Florida crash involving SUV crushed by freight train leaves five dead, two critical

A freight train slammed into an SUV in Florida Saturday, killing five people — including at least two children — and leaving two adults critically injured, police said.

The unidentified family of seven was heading to a quinceañera around 6:45 p.m. when they rolled onto the train crossing in Plant City, a city 25 miles east of Tampa.

“The word devastating doesn’t begin to describe the events and tragedy that unfolded,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a press conference.

Video footage obtained by police showed the Cadillac Escalade slowly approaching the crossing, which is marked only by a stop sign rather than crossing arms.

The driver continued to crawl across the tracks without looking both ways, landing directly in the path of a mile-long freight train moving at 55 miles per hour, according to Chronister.

Both witnesses in nearby parked cars and the conductor of the train blared their horns and flashed their lights as the conductor attempted to slow the convoy down, but it was too late.

“As you could imagine the carnage that’s created when these two collide,” the sheriff said.

“The SUV — we can see from the video — begins to catapult and flip violently several times before it’s landed a distance from this crossing.”

All five backseat passengers — two males and three females — were ejected from the SUV and killed.

Family told police that among the dead were children ages 10, 14 and an “adult child.”

The driver and front-seat passenger, both adult men, were trapped inside the SUV that “looks like a soft drink can that’s been smashed,” Chronister said.

After being freed by the jaws of life, the pair were rushed to an area hospital in critical condition.

“Maybe an entire family lost their life here tonight. We are all visibly shaken we are we are all rattled at our core tonight after witnessing what happened here tonight,” Chronister lamented.

The tragedy is still under investigation.