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It was supposed to be a fun Disney World Christmas trip for 14-year-old Jeremiah Warren and his friends from a small town church in Louisiana – "pure pleasure," as he describes his aunt. But then, we learn that a violent fire on a Florida highway killed seven people, including five children from this region traveling in a church van.
"We knew it had to be them," said Jacqueline Williams, Warren's aunt, sitting. in the living room of his home in Marksville. She had just returned from church on Sunday morning where she had done the only thing within reach: pray.
"When they left, you were looking for them to have fun and have fun, no one expects that to happen," she said.
The little town is boiling since the news that a church van of the House of Mercy Avoyelles traveling outside Gainesville, Florida, has been caught in a crushing fire involving two 18-wheeled vehicles on Thursday. In addition to the five children in the church van, the two truck drivers were also killed in the accident. Officials said at least eight other people were injured, some of them seriously.
Two vehicles heading north – a semitrailer and a car – crashed and then went through a metal guardrail, violently striking another trailer and the children. A leak of diesel fuel has caused a fireball, said the Florida Highway Patrol.
A fifth car, unable to avoid chaos, sped up and hit people who were thrown out of the van, the road patrol said. ] In a statement posted on United Pentecostal Church International's Facebook page, Louisiana District Superintendent Kevin Cox said that a pregnant woman had been injured in the accident and that her unborn child had stabilized. Cox also said that Karen, the wife of the 50-year-old church pastor, had been injured and her granddaughter had been killed. Cox said that a total of nine children and three adults were in the van of the church.
Authorities identified the dead children as Joel Cloud and Warren, both 14 years old; Cara Descant, 13 years old; Briena Descant, 10 years old; and Cierra Bordelan, 9. The relationship between Descant's daughters and the pastor was not immediately available.
Williams described his nephew as an "accommodating" boy; Warren and Cloud were best friends, she said, who lived in front of one another. Two of the girls who were killed lived on either side of her nephew, she added.
Only about 5,500 people live in Marksville – the seat of Avoyelles parish – about 265 kilometers north of New Orleans. The small size of the city created a personal connection with the tragedy: many people knew the families of the victims personally or knew friends and families who knew them.
As news of the tragedy spread, people gathered for vigils or prayer services. remember the children and pray for their families and survivors. Dozens of people gathered Saturday for a rosary in a Roman Catholic church. Sunday morning, black ribbons were hanging on the doors of the House of the Mercy of Avoyelles, where the parishioners gathered. On Monday, a candlelit memorial service will be held at the city's football field, where religious figures from all over the small community should express themselves.
Reverend Carolyn Fletcher, who chaired the Sunday service at the United Methodist Church in Marksville, said she had raised money for families and prayed for the victims and their families. Earlier Sunday, during a service in a different city, she and the congregation read the names of the victims.
"In just about every place you go, every church you go to, every restaurant you go to, it's mentioned."
At the chapel ministry, pastors Angela and Danny Hargrove said they opened the church on Friday so that people could gather and gather. during Sunday service, they prayed for the dead children and their families.
"If you are a parent or grandparent and have children, it makes you think of yours, what would you do?" Danny Hargrove said.
Williams emphasized the importance of faith in helping people through tragedy. She said that they felt the pain of other families who had also lost people in the accident.
"We are all family," she said. "We also feel the pain of different families – God is truly the only one who can lead us through and bring healing."
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Follow Santana on Twitter @ruskygal.
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