ATLANTA (AP) — An eighth body has been found at the scene. Fierce crash on Georgia highway Jackson County Deputy Coroner Dean Stringer said Tuesday the crash occurred between a semitrailer and a van.
The victims were killed Monday afternoon when a semitrailer crashed into a van and burst into flames, law enforcement said.
Authorities said the semitrailer was following a Dodge van too closely on Interstate 85 in Jackson County, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta, when the crash occurred.
After the initial collision, four other vehicles also collided, in what officials described as a “chain reaction.”
A van used by Furkids Animal Rescue and Shelters was one of the vehicles involved in the accident. The driver of the van suffered bruises and cuts to his head, CEO Samantha Shelton said.
“In the chaos of the wreckage, the cages were crushed and the cats began to escape,” the Cumming, Georgia-based animal rescue organization wrote on its Facebook page.
Shelton said the group took 37 cats to a shelter in Vermont, but some of the cats escaped after the accident. Two cats were still missing as of Tuesday, Shelton said, and one cat was rushed to the hospital.
The identities of those killed have not been revealed.
“Officers are still working to identify and verify the occupants,” Georgia Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Franka Young said in an email Tuesday afternoon.
Immediately after the accident, authorities announced that all seven people in the van died at the scene. An eighth body was later found at the crash site, but details of where it was found were not immediately released.
Young said the crash is being investigated by the Georgia State Patrol Collision Reconstruction Specialist Team.
