Time: Around 12:30 P.M.
Location: Bronx, New York
Vehicle(s) Involved: Honda Pilot
"NEW YORK — An out-of-control van careened across several lanes of traffic on a New York City highway Sunday, then plunged more than 50 feet off the side of the road and landed in a ravine on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo, killing all seven people aboard, authorities said.
The van was headed south when it bounced off the median, crossed all southbound lanes over to the guardrail and off the side of the road, police said. It landed nearly upside down on zoo property that's closed to the public and far from any animal exhibits, zoo spokeswoman Mary Dixon said. The vehicle lay mangled hours later, its right doors ripped off and strewn amid the trees along with items from the car.
It's not clear what caused the van to go out of control. The southbound side of the highway was closed briefly Sunday afternoon while police investigated.
The victims were an 84-year-old man; three women, ages 80, 45 and 30; two girls, ages 12 and 10, and a younger girl whose age wasn't immediately known, fire department spokesman Jim Long said. He didn't name them.
The accident was the second in the past year where a car fell off the same stretch of the Bronx River Parkway. Last June, the driver of a sport utility vehicle heading north lost control and the SUV hit a divider, bounced through two lanes of traffic and fell 20 feet over a guardrail, landing on a pickup truck in a parking lot. The two people in the SUV were injured.
City agencies will be asked to look at safety issues on the highway including guardrail height, Bronx borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said in a statement Sunday.
"My prayers, as well as those of my office and all Bronxites, go out to the families of the seven victims," he said."
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