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Seven people, including three children, were killed on Sunday when a van crashed through a highway guardrail and plunged more than 100 feet into New York's Bronx Zoo, police said.

The van was traveling on the Bronx River Parkway when it lost control, hit the highway median and crossed four lanes of traffic before smashing through the guardrail, officials said.

The vehicle landed in a train yard below that is used by the zoo to store its monorail trains, police said. The names and exact ages of the victims were not disclosed.

The fatal accident shut down the southbound lanes of the parkway and caused major traffic delays around the zoo.

The Bronx Zoo is the world's largest urban zoo, with more than 600 species of animals.

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