Nine kids were killed in a multi-vehicle pileup that killed ten people in Butler County, Alabama, over the weekend.
According to accounts, the Saturday collision included eight kids aged four to seventeen from the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch, which offers a shelter for abandoned or mistreated school-age girls.
Meanwhile, a 29-year-old father and his 9-month-old daughter, travelling in another vehicle, were also killed, as per Butler County Coroner Wayne Garlock.
The catastrophe occurred as a result of storms that blew over Alabama during the weekend.
According to an eyewitness, the weather had been poor for about an hour before the disaster. Lacey Willis, a CNN producer, was in another vehicle involved in the multi-car collision and said she first noticed it when she experienced a blow that pushed her car into a guard post and off onto the grass on the median.
Her husband, who had been driving, then informed her that they were required to get their child out of the vehicle.
Lacey told CNN that they were walking away from their car when she noticed other automobiles catching fire.
She explained she is barefoot on I-65, walking, walking far enough away. She was only praying.
A crash on I-65 in Butler County Saturday killed 10 people, including nine children.
— AL.com (@aldotcom) June 20, 2021
One of the vehicles involved was from a Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch. The driver of the Girls Ranch bus was pulled from the vehicle by a bystander.https://t.co/HbUWJELXG8 pic.twitter.com/7rYrISEiMG
She went on to say that she was “extremely thankful” her family was able to “leave,” but that “there’s a tiny guilt component.” ”Those families’ lives have been irrevocably altered, and she prays that everyone can find a way to cope.
Since this was a horrible event for many individuals. They are quite fortunate.
The driver of the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch bus, who was also the ranch’s director, was rescued from the blazing vehicle, but the girls in the back could not be reached in time.
According to Michael Smith, CEO of the Alabama Sheriffs Youth Ranches, the driver lost two of her own kids in the accident.
Smith added that her life was saved, and they are extremely grateful. Sadly, the other eight people were lost.
They lost eight young individuals who can make a difference in the world, they lost eight young folks who will never be able to have their own kids, they lost eight young people who will never be able to break the cycle of where they’ve been and alter it for their children. It’s a bad day.
A terribly tragic day. Please join us in offering prayers and thoughts at this awful time.
