A mother and her young children were killed after crashing into an alligator on a South Carolina stretch of interstate, according to the coroner's office.
Amber Stanley, 24, her 4-year-old son Jack, and her 2-year-old daughter Autumn all died in the wreck, according to Sean D. Fogle, the Chief Deputy Coroner with the Orangeburg County Coroner's Office.
Stanley and her children all died of thermal injuries due to the vehicle fire, Fogle reported. They were from Callahan, Fla., a town located northwest of Jacksonville, according to the coroner.
The incident occurred when the vehicle Stanley was driving struck an alligator that was crossing I-95, Fogle said.
The crash happened just before 1 a.m. Monday on a northbound lane of I-95, near mile marker 86, according to Lance Cpl. Judd Jones of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Stanley's 2011 Kia Soul went off the left side of the road and into the median, where it hit a tree and caught fire, Jones said.
