Three people were killed and two others were critically injured in a fiery crash on Interstate 95 in Miami-Dade early Sunday, officials said.
The crash happened around 4:40 a.m. when a Nissan Altima that was traveling north on I-95 in the area of Northwest 95th Street lost control and collided with a Dodge Challenger, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.
The Nissan then drove off the roadway onto a grassy area in the right shoulder where it crashed into a tree and became completely engulfed in flames.
There were five people in the Nissan and three of them died inside of vehicle, officials said. The other two passengers were possibly ejected from the vehicle onto the ground, the FHP said.
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Those two passengers were transported to Ryder Trauma Center in critical condition.
Officials haven't released the identities of anyone involved, and the crash remains under investigation.
Local
Two people said they were the first to find the car on fire on the side of I-95. Augusto Vega and Priscilla Haisley said they had just left a New Year’s Eve concert, when they spotted the blaze and stopped to help..
They quickly found a badly injured woman who was cut and bleeding.
"I asked her 'are you okay, were you in the crash?' She said 'yes, please help me,'” Haisley said. "I kept asking her 'who's in the car, who's with you?' and she kept telling me 'four people, four people,'"
"Something within me just said go, because you only have seconds here,” Vega said. "It wasn't even a choice, I just ran because this young lady told us there's more people in the car."
Vega said he found another woman face-down and motionless in the bushes.
"After I woke her up I said 'you're going to make it through this, just trust me, hold my hand,' and I did the best I can moving her away from the fire,” Vega said. "It wasn't a conscious decision to get in there to help, it was a human instinct."
The northbound lanes of I-95 were shut down at Northwest 79 Street between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., but have since reopened.
This is a developing story. Please check back on NBC 6 for updates.
