8 killed in church van crash

Nighttime plunge into Florida canal leaves 10 injured

MOORE HAVEN, Fla. -- An overloaded church van ran through a stop sign, crossed all four lanes of a dark rural highway and nosedived into a canal, killing eight people and injuring 10 early Monday in southwest Florida, authorities said.

"They didn't see that stop sign. They shot right through it," Glades County Chief Deputy Duane Pottorff said.

Eighteen people were in the 15-seat-capacity van when it crashed about 12:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Highway Patrol.

A 911 call came in at 12:31 a.m., and deputies arrived four minutes later, officials said. The van had gone down an 8-to-10 foot embankment and landed in shallow water of the canal, which is lined with tall grass and weeds.

"That's a very steep embankment, and they kind of did a nosedive," said Lt. Gregory Bueno of the Highway Patrol.

The crash killed the male driver and seven passengers -- four male and three female -- troopers said. The Florida Highway Patrol has identified the victims as driver Volsaint Marsaille, 58; Jude Petit-Frere, 66; Obernise Petit-Frere, 58; Lifaite Lochard, 58; Madeleine William, 53; Wanie Larose, 60; Dazilla Joseph, 79; and Servilus Dieudonne, 71.

The agency said 10 passengers were taken to four hospitals. Among them was a 4-year-old child who was not in a car seat, Bueno said. The child was later discharged.

All the people in the van were from Fort Pierce. They had been returning to the Independent Haitian Assembly of God church after making their usual Palm Sunday trip to another church in Fort Myers.

Outside the Independent Haitian Assembly of God church, about three dozen friends and family members milled around the parking lot waiting for information.

Nicolas Alexis, who was in the van, described how he frantically tried to check who was alive.

Three men who had been seated near the 57-year-old died. Alexis said he kicked out a window to escape.

"I just know there is a God," said Alexis, sitting in a chair dragged outside the church to ease the pain in his bandaged leg and fractured ribs.

Philippe Dorce, 34, said his father-in-law and cousin were in the van. Dorce received a call about 1:15 a.m. and drove to the crash scene. He said he helped authorities identify bodies.

The church's pastor, 57-year-old Esperant Lexine, was hospitalized in critical condition.

"He hasn't learned of the fatalities yet," Dina Lexine Sarver, his daughter, said. "He was able to tell us that somebody was able to get out of the van and flag somebody down."

Lexine founded his church more than 35 years ago, and half the people in the van were longtime members of his congregation, Sarver said.

Nozaire Nore, 48, suffered a broken leg in the crash. With his niece translating from Haitian Creole, Nore told Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers that the driver didn't notice a curve in the road and couldn't stop in time.

Sarver said her father regularly had the van inspected before similar trips, and that Marsaille was also a school bus driver

"The driver has been driving them for 30 years. He's always the chauffeur; he's done this trip numerous times," Sarver said.

Information for this article was contributed by Kyle Hightower, Jennifer Kay and Freida Frisaro of The Associated Press.

A Section on 03/31/2015

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