FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Just after the sun set Thursday, a search team found the body of a 1-year-old who was ejected from a car that blew a tire and veered into a ditch off the side of Alligator Alley, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Six other people were inside the car that crashed in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 75, just before the U.S. 27 interchange near Mile Marker 28. The crash was in a grassy marsh of the Everglades just west of Weston in Broward County.
The Florida Highway Patrol did not release information about who was in the car, where they were coming from or going or what kind of they were in. It's unclear whether the baby was in a car seat, though authorities reportedly found one near the baby's body.
The six people in the wrecked car were taken to nearby hospitals with varying degrees of traumatic injuries, but all were walking and talking at the scene and are expected to make a full recovery, authorities said.
Images posted to social media appeared to show a dark-colored pickup truck flipped over in a grassy area off the highway next to a body of water.
The crash occurred about 4:30 p.m. The eastbound lanes remained closed into Thursday night as police and rescue personnel, including a dive team, searched for any sign of the baby. FHP confirmed the baby's death about 8:30 p.m.
The closures affected drivers coming from West Broward and the west coast, including Collier and Lee counties. Authorities asked drivers to avoid the area.
