Five Perish In Horrific Car Fire – Group Was Coming From Arondizuogu Convention In New York

Family members outside Jamaica Hospital-Photo by Christina Santucci

By SaharaReporters, New York

A Mercedes Benz sports utility vehicle travelling at high speed hit a concrete support, rolled over and burst into flames killing five of the seven passengers including two children, on Sunday in New York City.
Occupants of the car had come from the just concluded 2-day convention of the Arondizuogu Patriotic Union National Congress of North America.

Later that day, members of the group were in mourning as they entered and left the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center where three of the survivors of the accident had been brought.

A grieving Inno Chima, a participant in the Saturday night gala, was quoted to ask: “Did God go to sleep on us?”

The accident occurred around 3:15 a.m., and the police believe the S.U.V. was speeding, the authorities said. Witnesses 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, authorities said. Then it ignited in flames.

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.