FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A collision between a bear and an SUV in the Florida Everglades killed the bear and set off a chain-reaction crash that left three people dead.
The dead were all in a car that stopped to help, police on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation said. Their vehicle was struck by a third, a Mercedes.
Gary Bitner, a spokesman for the Seminole Police Department, said bears are often seen in the area.
There are bears all through the Everglades, but this is the first time we've had an accident involving a bear," he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The crash occurred Sunday evening on Snake Road off Alligator Alley, the section of Interstate 75 that crosses Florida through the northern Everglades.
Police said there were a total of 13 people in all three cars, and seven were reported to be injured in addition to the three who were killed. The SUV was badly damaged when it struck the bear, although the driver was not injured.
