Florida Turnpike Closed Following Explosive Crash
One Person Killed In Crash
POSTED: Wednesday, December 10, 2003
UPDATED: 2:06 pm EST December 11,
2003
A head-on collision between a sport utility vehicle and a freight truck carrying 240 pounds of explosives for the military killed one person Wednesday night and closed a 17-mile stretch of Florida's Turnpike, according to Local 6 News.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers said Tera Ross, 22, was headed to South Florida with two other passengers when her 2000 Ford Explorer crossed the turnpike median at the Orange-Lake County line and went into the northbound lanes. 
The vehicle then slammed head-on into a northbound Volvo freight truck and ruptured one of five cases of blasting caps inside the vehicle.The sport utility vehicle was burned so badly that there was only a shell left, according to Local 6 News.Ross was killed instantly. Ross' brother, Zachary, 20, and a friend, Kelly Melissa Raw, 18, of Oviedo, were also injured in the crash and transported to a local hospital in critical condition.Local 6 News reported the three people in the Explorer were headed home for the holidays from Jacksonville State University.The driver of the Volvo truck, Glen Rice, and his wife Janice Rice were not injured in the collision. 
A team of explosives experts from Patrick Air Force Base arrived on the scene at about 11:30 p.m. to inspect the remaining explosives on the truck.Officials closed 17 miles of the turnpike from U.S. 27 to state Road 50 in both directions Thursday. Local 6 News reported that southbound lanes were opened at 10:45 a.m. and northbound lanes opened at about 1:30 p.m.Florida Department of Transportation officials said the state lost about $624,000 in commerce for each hour the north-south thoroughfare was closed.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
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Explosive Crash Shuts Down TurnpikeThe vehicle then slammed head-on into a northbound Volvo freight truck and ruptured one of five cases of blasting caps inside the vehicle.The sport utility vehicle was burned so badly that there was only a shell left, according to Local 6 News.Ross was killed instantly. Ross' brother, Zachary, 20, and a friend, Kelly Melissa Raw, 18, of Oviedo, were also injured in the crash and transported to a local hospital in critical condition.Local 6 News reported the three people in the Explorer were headed home for the holidays from Jacksonville State University.The driver of the Volvo truck, Glen Rice, and his wife Janice Rice were not injured in the collision. A team of explosives experts from Patrick Air Force Base arrived on the scene at about 11:30 p.m. to inspect the remaining explosives on the truck.Officials closed 17 miles of the turnpike from U.S. 27 to state Road 50 in both directions Thursday. Local 6 News reported that southbound lanes were opened at 10:45 a.m. and northbound lanes opened at about 1:30 p.m.Florida Department of Transportation officials said the state lost about $624,000 in commerce for each hour the north-south thoroughfare was closed.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.Copyright 2004 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com.
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