1-year-old boy dies after ejected from pickup that crashed on Florida’s Alligator Alley

The body of a 1-year-old boy was found hours after the child was ejected from a pickup that blew a tire and crashed into a ditch parallel to Florida’s Alligator Alley, the Florida Highway Patrol said Thursday.

The child was located by a diver in the water near the crash site in western Broward County, WPLG reported. A car seat was located near the wreckage of the Nissan Frontier midsize pickup, the television station reported.

Alligator Alley is named for the part of Interstate 75 that crosses the Everglades in South Florida.

The crash occurred at about 4:30 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-75 near Mile Marker 28 and left seven people with minor injuries, according to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue officials told WTVJ.

The Florida Highway Patrol did not release information about who was in the car, where they were coming from or their destination, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Nearly 50 firefighters were on the scene combing the area before the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed the child was found around 8:30 p.m., WPLG reported.

The six people in the wrecked car who survived the crash were taken to area hospitals with varying degrees of traumatic injuries, the Sun-Sentinel reported. All of them were walking and talking at the scene and are expected to make a full recovery, authorities told the newspaper.

Cox Media Group