Bronx, NY – Seven People Dead After Van Flips Off Ramp Near The Bronx Zoo

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    Police investigate the destroyed van that plunged over the Bronx River Parkway, Sunday April 29, 2012, in New York. Authorities say the out-of-control van plunged off a roadway near the Bronx Zoo, killing seven people, including three children. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)Bronx, NY – An out-of-control van careered across several lanes of traffic on a highway overpass Sunday, then plunged more than 50 feet off the side of the road and landed in a ravine on the grounds of the nation’s largest city zoo, killing all seven people aboard, authorities said.

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    Three of the victims in the crash near the Bronx Zoo were children, including girls ages 12 and 10 and a younger girl whose age wasn’t known, the Fire Department of New York said. The others were an 84-year-old man and three women, ages 80, 45 and 30. Their names weren’t immediately released.

    The van was headed south on the highway that cuts through a working-class neighborhood when it bounced off the median, crossed all southbound lanes and hit the guardrail, police said. Next to the guardrail is a pedestrian path, and the 4-foot-high iron fence between that walkway and the ground below was intact after the accident, meaning the van likely flipped over it.

    The van landed nearly upside down on zoo property that’s closed to the public and far from any animal exhibits, zoo spokeswoman Mary Dixon said. The vehicle lay mangled hours later, its right doors ripped off and strewn amid the trees along with items from the car. Next to the heavily wooded area are subway tracks and a train yard.
    Police surround a temporarily built tent where the victims of a vehicle crash were brought, Sunday April 29, 2012, in New York. Authorities say the out-of-control van plunged off a roadway near the Bronx Zoo, killing seven people, including three children. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
    It’s not clear what caused the van to go out of control. The southbound side of the highway was closed briefly Sunday afternoon while police investigated.

    The medical examiner’s office said it expected to release the victims’ causes of death Monday.

    The accident was the second in the past year where a car fell off the same stretch of the Bronx River Parkway. Last June, the driver of an SUV heading north lost control and the SUV hit a divider, bounced through two lanes of traffic and fell 20 feet over a guardrail, landing on a pickup truck in a parking lot. The two people in the SUV were injured.

    City agencies will be asked to look at safety issues on the highway including guardrail height, Bronx borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said in a statement Sunday.

    “My prayers, as well as those of my office and all Bronxites, go out to the families of the seven victims,” he said.

    The wreck was the deadliest in New York City since the driver of a tour bus returning from a Connecticut casino in March 2011 lost control and slammed into a pole that sheared the bus nearly end to end, killing 14 passengers.

    In 2009, just north of New York City in suburban Westchester County, a woman carrying a vanload of children drove nearly two miles in the wrong direction on a highway before colliding with an SUV. Eight people were killed, including four children. An autopsy determined that the woman, Diane Schuler, had downed at least 10 drinks and had smoked marijuana as recently as 15 minutes before the wreck.

    Skid marks and went airborne about 500 feet. Photo: Shimon Gifter


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    16 Comments
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    11 years ago

    I guess they where driving 45 mph

    11 years ago

    This was a horrible accident. However, cars, vans, or trucks, or buses, do not just go out of control by themselves. Statistically speaking, in the vast majority of such cases which are similar to this one, motor vehicles go out of control because of the actions of the driver, including speeding, reckless driving, alcohol and/or drug use, and being distracted (inattention to driving). Very few of these types of accidents are caused by mechanical problems.

    OyGevald
    OyGevald
    11 years ago

    Hashem Yerachem!

    Vasserman
    Vasserman
    11 years ago

    Very sad.

    JewishReporter
    JewishReporter
    11 years ago

    driver was 45 year old female

    Mikerose
    Mikerose
    11 years ago

    #6 is so correct why r u #5 so negative ??also any yidden ? Now don’t jump  me and say what’s the dif? There is a dif. And there always will be a) do we have a levaya to attend to if yes we need more info . And b) had not all of them died -then we need names ben /bas .. Etc

    Tzi_Bar_David
    Tzi_Bar_David
    11 years ago

    The 45 year old woman was driving and according to the radio news, it was traveling at a high rate of speed, so fast in fact that it flew over the guardrail without even touching it. Hashem Yerachem.

    myownopinion
    myownopinion
    11 years ago

    Thats actually a 2005-06 Honda Pilot, very unstable suv.

    sandymoos
    sandymoos
    11 years ago

    This should remind every driver that they hold the lives of their passengers in their hands.

    11 years ago

    To #’s 5 & 8- #10 just validated my point, namely that these accidents don’t happen by themselves. As I stated, the majority of these accidents are not due to mechanical problems, but to speeding, and reckless driving. I was not being negative, and I feel very badly that the passengers had to pay the ultimate price with their lives, because of the carelessness and recklessness of the driver. Speeding and reckless driving kills! A car is two tons of fast moving steel, which must be respected at all times.

    savtat
    savtat
    11 years ago

    I remember seeing a highway sign on an Israeli road saying: “Lo Tirzhach” We don’t know what caused this accident, but many many accidents are caused by speeding. Hashem Yeracheim.

    bennyt
    bennyt
    11 years ago

    The news reported than the SUV was going 70 MPH. There’s very little margin for error when driving that fast.