10 dead in pileup
9 kids in Alabama wet-road horror
Ten people, including nine children, died in a fiery 15-vehicle crash in storm-drenched Alabama, according to local authorities.
Cops said two of the vehicles — an SUV carrying a father and daughter and a small bus hauling girls from Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch — likely hydroplaned on I-65’s wet roads just before 2:30 p.m. Saturday as Tropical Depression Claudette plowed through Butler County, AL.com reported.
The father and daughter, identified by the county coroner as Cody Fox, 29, and 9-month-old Ariana, were killed, as were eight girls traveling in the bus.
Butler County Coroner Wayne Garlock said a bystander successfully pulled the bus driver, ranch director Candice Gulley, from the vehicle, but that, “It was too late to get back to [the girls] because the bus was engulfed in fire.”
Authorities have not released the names of the girls, who ranged in age from 4 to 17, according to AL.com. Some of the girls attended Reeltown HS in Tallapoosa County, according to reporting from WBRC.
Gulley remained hospitalized in Montgomery on Sunday.
Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch is a long-term residential facility operated by the Alabama Sheriffs Association for “school-age girls from troubled backgrounds,” according to its Web site.
Many of the bus passengers were in the care of the state.
Fox worked in emergency management in Marion County, Tenn., authorities said.
Multiple other people were also injured in the crashes, according to Butler County Sheriff Danny Bond, who called the pileup “the worst ever in our county.”
Garlock said the site of the wreck is “notorious” for hydroplaning, as the northbound highway curves down a hill to a small creek. Traffic on the roadway is typically filled with vacationers driving to and from the Gulf of Mexico on summer weekends.
The Girls Ranch asked for “prayers” in a Facebook post at 10 p.m. on Saturday.
“Our hearts are heavy today,” the statement said. “Our ranch has suffered great loss. As some of you may have heard, one of our ranch vehicles was involved in a multiple car accident this afternoon.
“Please send prayers our way as we navigate this difficult time.”
Claudette dumped as much as 12 inches of rain along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, causing dangerous flash flooding in northern Georgia, most of South Carolina, the North Carolina coast, parts of southeast Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.