The children, who were headed to Disney World, and two truck drivers were killed in the fiery crash.

Five children traveling from Louisiana, along with the drivers in two semis, were killed in a Thursday afternoon accident at mile marker 394 on Interstate 75 just north of Gainesville, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The children were from Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, and ranged in age from about 8 or 9 up to teenagers, FHP Lt. Patrick Riordan said Friday morning. As many as a dozen people may have been in the van.

A tractor-trailer was traveling north on I-75 when it collided with a passenger vehicle also heading north. After the collision, both vehicles broke through the guardrail in the median and went into the southbound lanes. There they were struck by a passenger van and another tractor-trailer, according to FHP.

The van overturned, ejecting some of its occupants. Both trucks caught fire. A southbound pickup truck that was behind the van and the semi, traveled through the scene.

Five children from Louisiana in the passenger van died as well as the adult male drivers of both trucks.

Those killed in the accident included Joel Cloud, 14; Jeremiah Warren, 14; Cierra Bordelan, 9; Cara Descant, 13, and Brieana Descant, 10, all of Marksville, Louisiana. Steve Holland, 59, of West Palm Beach, and Douglas Bolkema, 49, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, were the two semi truck drivers who died in the accident.

The Town Talk newspaper in Alexandria, Louisiana, reported Friday morning that a representative of the Avoyelles House of Mercy confirmed its members were involved. The church is in Marksville in Avoyelles Parish.

Troy Roberts of the state's transportation department took questions from reporters Friday morning about whether the guardrail that failed to keep the vehicles from traveling through the median into the southbound lane was an engineering problem.

He said it’s too early to tell, but guardrails aren’t designed to stop everything.



“With these types of incidents, we’ll take a look at the road to see if it contributed to the crash,” Roberts said. “Guardrails can only take so much.”



FHP's Riordan said troopers don't yet know who is at fault in the crash.

“We’re early in this investigation, looking at who is fault,” Riordan said. “It makes it more difficult (when there is this much damage) but we have professionals that do this on a daily basis.

“There’s no doubt in my mind they’re going to be able to determine what transpired.”

Friday night the Florida Department of Transportation had begun to repair asphalt damaged by the fiery crash.

FDOT said Friday night drivers should expect a double lane closure, with one southbound lane remaining open.

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Thursday's crash is the worst in Alachua County on I-75 since nearly seven years ago, when 11 people died and more than 20 hospitalized on Jan. 29, 2012, in a fiery chain of collisions in heavy smoke and fog across Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.

Officials took heat then for not closing the interstate despite the conditions.

Eventually, cameras, sensors and large electronic message signs around Paynes Prairie were installed and designed to prevent such crashes in the future, part of a $2 million project to improve safety following the 2012 crashes.

Riordan said troopers worked hard to complete next-of-kin notifications.

“We’ve got a lot dedicated men and women who wear badge ... unfortunately this is a part of what we do. We accept it and try to step up and do the right thing.”





Other links to the coverage from the 2012 crash:

FDLE defends decision to reopen I-75 No expanation given for why semis stopped on I-75 Anatomy of a tragedy: I-75 crashes Proposal calls for lowering I-75 speed limit FHP report blames drivers for fatal I-75 crashes