A grandmother celebrating her 94th birthday was killed and eight other people were injured when a van carrying nine people crashed into a fuel tanker truck on the Florida's Turnpike in Broward Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
The crash happened around 2:30 p.m. in the southbound lanes of the Turnpike near Griffin Road and involved a passenger van and a tractor-trailer.
Aerial footage from Chopper 6 showed a white van with severe front end damage along with other vehicles that appeared to have been involved.
What appeared to be a body was covered by a yellow tarp next to the van.
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Officials with the Plantation Department, which assisted Davie Fire in the response, confirmed that one person was killed at the scene.
Davie Fire Rescue officials said a total of eight patients were brought to local hospitals from the scene, including three children.
Seven people were taken from the scene in an ambulance, and air rescue also responded to the scene to airlift a patient to Broward General Hospital.
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Florida Highway Patrol officials said the person killed was a female, and said one of the children injured is an infant.
An FHP investigator said it appeared the van, which had nine passengers, rear-ended a fuel tanker truck.
Some people were ejected from the van and the person who was killed was a 94-year-old woman who was celebrating her birthday, the investigator said.
All the other people who were injured were in stable condition and expected to survive. The driver of the truck wasn't injured.
Plantation Fire officials said no one in the van was wearing a seatbelt. The investigator said impairment wasn't a factor.
The crash had all southbound lanes closed in the area and traffic was at a complete standstill at one point.
No other information was immediately known.
Check back with NBC6 for updates.
