An alligator collision killed a mom and her two young kids on Interstate 95 in South Carolina early Monday morning, The Washington Post noted.
Amber Stanley, 24, was driving along the stretch of road with her 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter at around 1 a.m. when she struck the alligator crossing the northbound lane.
The impact forced Stanley's vehicle to veer off the road and into the median, where it collided with a tree and caught fire.
It is unclear whether the mom and children were trapped in the wreckage of the car, but Sean D. Fogle, the Chief Deputy Coroner with the Orangeburg County Coroner's Office, said all three died from thermal injuries sustained in the blaze, The State noted.
No other injuries were reported and the incident remains under investigation.
The collision is the latest in a string of car crashes caused by alligators and other wildlife.
Last year Broward county mother of four, Jennifer Rosinski, made headlines when she survived flipping her car several times after swerving to avoid hitting an alligator crossing northbound Interstate 75 near North Port in Sarasota County, Palm Beach Post noted.
That same week, a Tampa motorcyclist was seriously injured when he hit a 10-foot alligator crossing State Road 674 and was flung from his motorbike, The Island Packet reported.
The rise in roadkill and related collisions is something that requires addressing, experts feel.
In the U.S. alone, vehicles hit between 1 million and 2 million animals each year, the equivalent of a collision every 26 seconds, according to insurance industry records cited by the Scientific American.
These incidents not only pose risks to motorists, but according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), threaten 21 endangered or threatened species including key deer, bighorn sheep, ocelot, red wolves, desert tortoises, American crocodiles and Florida panthers.
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