A multi-vehicle crash resulted in the death of four children and an adult in north-eastern Pennsylvania, Saturday afternoon.
The police said in a statement that the children were not wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.
Destini Watson, the 23-year-old woman who was driving the car, was killed. Officials did not disclose the identities of the children or their relationship to the deceased woman. The surviving passenger, 21-year-old Monisha Roberts, and the drivers of the three other cars were injured, reports the Associated Press.
The accident happened at the intersection of Route 115 and North Rocky Mountain Road. That part of Route 115 was closed for at least seven hours but reopened around 9 last night.
According to the police, the pileup happened after Watson lost control as she tried to pass another vehicle on Route 115 in Monroe County. Authorities stated that she was driving at a high speed.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the first three decades of people's lives in the United States. In 2009 alone, more than 33,000 people were killed in crashes and another 2.2 million were injured. More than 70 percent of these were in passenger vehicles and trucks.
According to statistics by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of those killed in car crashes were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.
Laws, education, and technology have increased seat belt usage from 11 percent in 1981 to almost 85 percent in 2013. However, one in 7 people still do not use seat belts.
