NYC Car Crash Leaves 5 Dead, 3 Injured in Queens

Authorities in NYC said five people, including two children, died when a sport utility vehicle hit a concrete pillar, rolled over and burst into flames in Queens on Sunday morning.

“This is the worst single-car accident I’ve gone to in my career,” Chief Stephen Browne, a 26-year FDNY veteran, told the New York Daily News. “To see this much human life devastation in a single-car accident on a side street is not normal.”

According to police reports, the vehicle, a 2008 Mercedes Benz SUV, 2008 Mercedes Benz SUV was heading eastbound on Atlantic Avenue around 3:15am on Sunday when it struck a concrete pillar, flipped and rolled over.

Police say it ended up on its side and burst into flames.

The five victims — 2 of which included an 8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy — who were killed were pronounced dead at the scene after the fire was extinguished, police said.

The three survivors — a 45-year-old woman, a 26-year-old man and a 7-year-old boy — were taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where they were listed in stable condition.

The names of the victims weren’t immediately released.

Police said they suspect “speeding” led to the terrible accident, which did not involve any other vehicles.

The NY Daily reports that a witness to the accident was nearly struck by the SUV before it crashed.

“All I saw was headlights,” Ryan Jardine, told the Daily. “She ran the light, almost hit us and then hit the pole. She swerved to avoid impacting us. We saw the car just hit the pole, and it went into a somersault. It just started flipping. It was horrible.”

FoxNY has more on the tragic Queens SUV accident in the video below: