Emergency services discovered four young girls dying by the side of the road after being thrown from a crashed motor. The horror smash in the US state of Tennessee on Sunday has left six people dead including a one-year-old girl, it has been confirmed.
The vehicle, a Toyota Camry, was carrying eight people when it veered off the road and struck a concrete barrier, flipping over and ejecting the passengers at around 2am. Only one of the passengers of the Camry, an 18-year-old man who survived, was wearing a seatbelt, the Mirror reports.
Four children aged one, three, five and 12 were thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Two adult victims who were also in the car have been identified as 21-year-old Tania Rodriguez, who was driving, and passenger 35-year-old Rina Reyes.
Another passenger, a 34-year-old woman, was injured in the crash and rushed to hospital with serious injuries. Emergency Medical Services Director Brent Dyer said: "These are things sometimes I don't believe people are necessarily meant to see as human beings.
"It's one of the hardest things we'll ever do, as anybody in emergency services, is to realise that you can't do something for a child."
Another car also crashed into a road barrier near the initial scene but it is unclear how the crashes are connected. Dyer said two medical helicopters and more than four different county emergency crews rushed to the scene.
A Robertson County Emergency Medical Services statement read: "A total of four Advanced Life Support ambulances responded to this scene and one helicopter/air ambulance. Initial arriving units worked quickly to search for, assess and triage the total nine patients involved.
"Only one other vehicle was involved. The vehicle was a car that was found upside down with very extensive damage. Another adult male was ambulatory on the scene and reported to responders that he had been in this car.
"This man was stable with what appeared to be minor injuries at that time." The Tennessee Highway Patrol said it would be investigating the cause of the crash, which took place near exit 24 on I-24 West in Robertson County.
Officials said a damaged pickup truck was also recovered at the scene, but have not said whether it was involved in the crash. The driver of the pickup truck was said to be able to walk away from the incident.
They confirmed that the vehicle collided with a concrete barrier underneath a bridge and came to rest half a mile down the road from the scene of the crash.
Dyer continued: "Sometimes you have to swallow back a few tears and catch your breath just a little bit. Something like this would shock anybody. We are still human.”
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