South Bay, FL Multi-Vehicle Collision, Jan 1982

SIX DIE ON "BLOODY 27"

South Bay,Fla. (UPI) -- An off-duty policeman watched helplessly while his wife, three young daughters and two other relatives died in the flames of his car on a stretch of Florida highway known as "Bloody
27." He was being treated today for severe shock.
The eight-vehicle pilep began Thursday morning when a tractor-trailer truck slowed on two-lane U.S. 27, south of South Bay, because dense smoke from burning sugar cane fields had cut visibility.
The heavily traveled 60-mile stretch of highway from Miami northwest to Lake Okeechobee is just to lanes and flanked by canals on both sides. It is known as "Bloody 27" because of its history.
In the past two years, 56 people had died in traffic accidents on that stretch. Thursday's accident boosted the toll to 62.
A car driven by TITO NIEVES, 32, an off-duty Clewiston, Fla., policeman, plwed into the rear of the tractor-trailer as the driver slowed to peer through the dense smoke.
NIEVES, who managed to escape even while the truck was dragging his wrecked car along, started trying to extricate his family. But before he could, a second tractor-trailer slammed into his auto.
Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Ken Buckner said the second truck hit so hard it climbed atop the family's car.
There was an "explosion upon impact," he said, and within seconds, the wrecked vehicles were engulfed in a huge fireball.
NIEVES tried again to save his family, but the fire drove him back.
"All he could do was stand there and watch because of the flames," said Buckner.
The victims included NIELA NIEVES, 37; daughters, RAQUEL, 5, and twins HILDA and NIELDA, 4; MRS. NIEVES' brother, EMILIO O. QUILES; and 22-month-old MARISSA ALVIDES, daughter of a relative for whom MRS. NIEVES had agreed to babysit.
The father was hospitalized at Glades General Hospital for severe shock. Also hospitalized was JAMES A. McCURRY of Eustis, Fla., one of the truck drivers.
The chain of collisions left three trailer-trucks and the auto linked in a fameblackened heap of rubble. Other trucks stood disabled nearby. Traffic in both directions was blocked for more than seven hours.
The accident occurred in Palm Beach County, south of Lake Okeechobee, on a stretch of highway considered one of the most dangerous in Florida. Troopers said it was especially dangerous because of smoke from burning sugar cane fields.
"There was heavy smoke on the highway. They burn the (cane) fields to get rid of the undergrowth," a trooper said.
VICTORIA WATSON, whose car slammed into a truck in the pileup, said the smoke was so thick she couldn't even see to aid anyone involved.
"We saw the car on fire and we ran because we thought it was going to explode. Then we heard a boom. I was so scared, so very scared," she said.
"It's awful, terrible," said a Florida Highway Patrol dispatcher.

Tyrone Daily Herald Pennsylvania 1982-01-22
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!