Three
women and two children were killed early Sunday morning when a Mercedes Benz GL
sport-utility vehicle they were travelling in crashed. The victims were returning
from a festival in Queens celebrating a two-day annual convention of the
Arondizuogu Patriotic Union National Congress of North America at the Golden
Terrace banquet hall, on Atlantic Avenue less than a mile from the accident
site. Three others survived.
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The
vehicle struck a concrete pillar, flipped and hit a tree. Three
adult passengers, all women, were declared dead at the scene, as were an
8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy. The driver, a 45-year-old woman, is in
stable condition at Jamaica Hospital, along with a 26-year old male and a
7-year-old boy.
“The
convention was supposed to bring us together — not end in tragedy,” said
Anthony Nwankwo, 49, from Houston. The convention draws about 200 people from across
the United States. One of the victims is identified as Michigan woman,
Nnenna Obioha, who was in her 50s or older.
According
to reports, the driver swerved to avoid a car coming through the intersection
at Atlantic Avenue and the Van Wyck service road. The SUV climbed onto the
sidewalk, struck a pillar supporting the tracks for the AirTrain to Kennedy
International Airport and flipped onto its passenger side and then came to a
rest when its roof struck a tree.
Surveillance
video from a nearby gas station shows a fast-moving black SUV travel through an
intersection. A moment later, a startled customer suddenly scurries toward the
street.
Chief
Stephen Browne of the Fire Department of New York called it the worst single
car accident he had seen in his 26-year career. "To see this much human
life devastation in a single-car accident on a side street is not normal,"
he told the News.
Source:
NYtimes
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