NAPLES, Fla. (WSVN) — A family from Boston, Massachusetts is opening up about their nightmare vacation that unfolded on Interstate 75 following a deadly plane crash. That plane hit their SUV and now, the lucky survivors are talking about the moment of impact.
“I originally thought we were hit by a truck or something because the impact was so severe I didn’t realize that it was the plane,” Peggy Galvin said.
The three women were not injured in that crash and were pulled over out of concerns for their safety.
“We just immediately got out of the car because we didn’t know if they car was going to catch on fire we had no idea what was about to happen,” Galvin said.
They were close to the crash where the plane had slammed into a wall and burst into flames.
Several passengers somehow made it out of the plane as they screamed for their pilots who did not survive the crash.
“But I’m so grateful that they were able to go out and my heart goes out to those pilots that lost their lives and to their families,” she said.
The family said they’re still reeling and trying to process what they just lived through.
“I was just so thankful that myself, my sister and my daughter were safe,” she said.
After more than 48 hours of being shut down, the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 have reopened in Naples.
The Florida Highway Patrol announced on its X account that the highway at Mile Marker 106 in Collier County has reopened on Sunday night.
The plane departed from an airport at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio around 1 p.m. Friday and was scheduled to land in Naples around around 3:15 p.m. Officials said the pilot of a Bombardier Challenger 600 jet contacted the tower to make an emergency landing after he said that the aircraft lost both engines. That when the tower lost contact.
Shortly after they lost contact, airport workers reported seeing smoke from the interstate just a few miles away.
Crews spent the weekend removing the wreckage and cleaning up fuel spills. Engineers also had to see if the road was safe for cars to travel on.
Of the five people on board, two people died while three others were hospitalized in unknown condition.
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