Florida highway crash kills six

Gainesville Florida,Jan 4:

In the US, six people died after a crash and diesel fuel spill sparked a massive fire on a Florida interstate highway, officials said.

The wreck happened on Interstate 75 about a mile south of Alachua, near Gainesville and two tractor-trailer rigs and two passenger vehicles were involved. The flames were fed by about 50 gallons of diesel, authorities said.

Several others were taken to the hospital, some with critical injuries, the Gainesville Sun reported. Authorities initially said six had died but late Thursday night revealed a seventh victim had perished.

Emergency crews extinguished the fire and said they were treating the crash as a homicide investigation. The fire was so intense that authorities said it damaged parts of the road.