After a Night of Celebration, Tears for 5 Killed in a Queens Accident
By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN and RANDY LEONARD



John Minchillo/Associated Press
Authorities clear an automobile involved in a single-vehicle crash that killed five people, including two children, near the Van Wyck Expressway.
Updated, 8:59 p.m. | Five people, including two children, died Sunday morning when a sport utility vehicle they were riding in hit a concrete support, rolled over and burst into flames near the Van Wyck Expressway in Queens, the authorities said.

Shortly before the accident, the driver and seven passengers had left a nearby banquet hall, where an association of Nigerian immigrants had gathered from across the United States for a celebration that featured dancing and discussions about improvement projects they were sponsoring in their homeland.

On Sunday morning, many of the same people were in mourning as they entered and left Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where the three survivors of the accident had been brought.

“Did God go to sleep on us?” a participant in Saturday night’s festivities, Inno Chima, said Sunday as he stood on the sidewalk outside the hospital.

As of late Sunday afternoon, the police had not released the identities of the victims, but among them were an 8-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy.

The accident occurred around 3:15 a.m., and the police believe the S.U.V. was speeding, the authorities said. Witnesses have told investigators that the vehicle ran two red lights shortly before the accident, which occurred on Atlantic Avenue just east of the Van Wyck.

The vehicle struck a concrete support for the AirTrain to Kennedy International Airport, and flipped a number of times before coming to rest on the passenger side about 80 feet away, the authorities said.

Then it ignited in flames.

Some of the passengers were ejected from the vehicle, including a 26-year-old man, whom arriving rescue personnel found sitting on a curb, a spokesman for the Fire Department, Frank Dwyer, said in an e-mail.

The driver, a 45-year-old woman who lives in the Bronx, was taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition.

The third survivor is a 7-year-old boy who was in stable condition, the authorities said.

It did not initially appear that any of the vehicle’s eight occupants were wearing seat belts, a law enforcement official said, although a community leader, Don Akamnonu, said Sunday evening that the 26-year-old man said he was wearing one. The vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz GL-class S.U.V., is built with seats for seven.

During an interview outside the hospital, Mr. Chima said there was “casual drinking” at the Golden Terrace banquet hall, on Atlantic Avenue less than a mile from the accident site. But investigators do not believe that alcohol played a role in the accident, and emergency personnel did not detect the odor of alcohol at the crash scene, a law enforcement official said.

On Sunday, investigators visited the banquet hall, asking about the nature of the Saturday night gathering and the time it ended, a woman who answered the phone at the banquet hall said.

The celebration concluded a two-day annual convention of the Arondizuogu Patriotic Union National Congress of North America, according to attendees.

“The convention was supposed to bring us together — not end in tragedy,” said Anthony Nwankwo, 49, from Houston. The convention draws about 200 people from across the United States.

On the sidewalk outside Jamaica Hospital, a 68-year-old woman, Evelyn Anyaogu, from the Bronx, said she was a cousin of one of the people who died in the accident. Ms. Anyaogu identified her cousin as a Michigan woman, Nnenna Obioha, who was in her 50s or older.

“She has the best heart in the whole world,” Ms. Anyaogu said.

Ms. Anyaogu recalled how festive the night had been at the convention. “We danced our native dance,” she said, adding that it was a “very, very good time.”

But those memories quickly evaporated when Ms. Anyaogu received a call from the authorities to “tell me what happened.”

“How do you cope?” she added.

One mourner emerged from the hospital crying and chased several news photographers, threatening to hurt them.

The police said that the precise cause of the accident remained under investigation, but that no other vehicles besides the S.U.V. appeared to be involved.

A man who lives near the crash scene, Miguel Martinez, 71, said there had been other accidents on the same eastbound stretch of Atlantic Avenue, where two lanes are squeezed into one near the expressway’s entrance and exit ramps.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/5-dead-in-accident-on-van-wyck/

How do you know they were nigerians?

fuqua: How do you know they were nigerians?

Do You see it now?

fuqua: How do you know they were nigerians?

It states it in the article now. Haba! I read it on yahoo news where they mentioned that the deceased were Nigerian immigrants. May God Almighty grant the family the fortitude to bear the lose.

...Not again!! Not Another Igbo Family... WHY?!!

eeeyahhh! little did they now that their would be tragedy after celebrations.Thats why we should live evry moment as if its our last on this planet.may their souls RIP.

FRESH AIR DON'T REACH UNITED STATE.

THINGS HAPPENS!

^^^^MY BROTHER I DON'T UNDERSTAND OO..



[quote author=Okija_juju]...Not again!! Not Another Igbo Family... WHY?!!

May the souls of the departed find rest with God.

Okija_juju: ...Not again!! Not Another Igbo Family... WHY?!!

Witnesses have told investigators that the vehicle ran two red lights shortly before the accident, which occurred on Atlantic Avenue just east of the Van Wyck.

Recklessness. She ran not one, but two red lights.

These are the crazy kind of drivers I fear on the road. You know you have children in the car, the safest thing to do would have been to STOP at the red light.

May their soul rest in peace. We thank God that no other drivers were injured.

Red-light running is a serious intersection safety issue across the nation. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Traffic Safety Facts 2008 Report, there were more than 2.3 million reported intersection-related crashes, resulting in more than 7,770 fatalities and approximately 733,000 injury crashes in 2008.

Car running ride lightNHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reports that red-light running crashes alone caused 762 deaths in 2008 (click here to learn more about how red-light running is defined and how crash figures are determined). [size=18pt]An estimated 165,000 people are injured annually by red-light runners.[/size] The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that half of the people killed in red-light running crashes are not the signal violators. They are drivers and pedestrians hit by red-light runners (Source: Status Report, Vol. 42, No. 1, IIHS, Jan 2007).

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/redlight/

U would've make the news longer than these. Busy body.

Another safe thing to do would be to make sure all passengers are wearing seatbelts.

And why were 7, 8, and 9 year old children still out at 3am? Parents usually leave their kids at home or leave the event at an earlier time for their safety and health.

Goodluck Jonathan has done it again.

fuqua: How do you know they were nigerians?

Typical Nigerians. Too lazy to read the whole article.

Why Igbo??

ogugua88: Another safe thing to do would be to make sure all passengers are wearing seatbelts.

And why were 7, 8, and 9 year old children still out at 3am? Parents usually leave their kids at home or leave the event at an earlier time for their safety and health.

Nigerian party. . . .all family must follow.

That ish used to annoy me

Why would a family take minors to a party that ended in the early hours of the morning? Why was the driver speeding? Why were the passengers not wearing seatbelts?

Very avoidable deaths...

kingoflag:
“Did God go to sleep on us?” a participant in Saturday night’s festivities, Inno Chima, said Sunday as he stood on the sidewalk outside the hospital.

No. Common sense and regard for safety went to sleep on them.

afam4eva: Goodluck Jonathan has done it again.

i never knew we had insane pple here oh

What a tragedy....! Only God can save and He does that any and everywhere.

May their souls rest in peace and the quick recovery to the survivors.

Ileke-IdI:
Nigerian party. . . .all family must follow.

That ish used to annoy me

When I was little, I don't remember staying at a hall until 3am though. The latest we'd be out is 1, and that's if my mom catered some of it and was waiting for her pans lol. Even then, my junior siblings would have gone home.

It's stupid how at parties, parents will be dancing till morning and kids are sleeping all over the tables.

I hope alcohol wasn't involved in this sha.

Why are people blaming dead people?

You guys are ridiculous!!

They died because they were unlucky, end of story...

God bless the dead.

R.I.P..

ismhab: FRESH AIR DON'T REACH UNITED STATE.

BUHARI AND HIS BOKO HARAM COHORTS DON REACH AMERICA TOO TO KILL INNOCENT IGBO PEOPLE??
U SEE WHAT NA
MAY THE SOULS OF THE DEPARTED REST IN PEACE

shymmex: Why are people blaming dead people?

You guys are ridiculous!!

TOT U SAID YOU WERE SIGNING OUT OF NAIRALAND FOR THE DAY

I'm sorry, but if what witnesses observed is true, then the driver is TOTALLY at fault. Why drive recklessly when kids are in the car?

That said, may their souls RIP.

ifihearam:

TOT U SAID YOU WERE SIGNING OUT OF NAIRALAND FOR THE DAY

Why are you following me everywhere

You're a stan!!

This seat-belt of a thing doesnt work atime oo.. had it been someone wanted to pull them out, he will find it very difficult to do so... may their souls rest in peace!amen.

shymmex: Why are people blaming dead people?

You guys are ridiculous!!

They died because they were unlucky, end of story...

God bless the dead.

R.I.P..

Unlucky? Speeding is unluck? Running multiple red lights is unluck? Not wearing seatbelts in 2012 is unluck? This has nothing to do with unluck and everything to do with very poor decision making. Don't make excuses for them. There is no reason people should not be wearing seltbelts, especially here in the United States, where it's illegal in most, if not all states. Most especially with children in the car. So add recklessness to poor decision making. Imagine if such took place in Nigeria. There would be no survivors.

Okija_juju: ...Not again!! Not Another Igbo Family... WHY?!!

Must you bring tribe in this well ok its igbo family but that's not the issue to discuss now

LOL @ the ediot saying it's unlucky.

Another innocent driver carrying a family of 2+ could have been involved. Tell that to people who have lost family members because of reckless drivers.