Multivehicle crash leaves a pregnant woman and a 22-year-old dead and 7 people injured in South Jersey
The crash shut down the Black Horse Pike area of West Atlantic City for almost 8 hours.
Two people, one of them a pregnant woman, were killed and seven others were injured Friday night in a fiery multivehicle crash on the Black Horse Pike just outside of Atlantic City, police said.
Just after 8:15 p.m. a 2017 silver Nissan Sentra traveling westbound on the Black Horse Pike, or Route 40, in the West Atlantic City section of Egg Harbor Township crossed into the eastbound lanes and struck a 2018 Kia Forte head on, police said.
The collision pushed the Kia backward and into a 2020 red Nissan Sentra that was also eastbound on the Black Horse Pike, sending it off the roadway, while the Kia came to rest in the marsh area along the eastbound side of the road, police said.
Debris from the crash hit a fourth car, a 2019 silver Toyota Yaris.
After the collision, the silver Sentra caught fire. Passing motorists stopped and pulled passengers out of the vehicle before it became completely engulfed in flames, police said.
Police identified the dead as the driver of the Kia, Escarlin Suriel, 21, of Atlantic City, and Gabriella Constrantino, 22, of Pleasantville, an occupant in the silver Sentra.
Suriel was eight months pregnant and the mother of a 4-year-old daughter, according to the family’s GoFundMe page. She was traveling with her husband, Francisco Nin Ferreras, who was taken to AtlantiCare City Division with serious injuries, police said.
“Escarlin was a loving, caring, and devoted mother and wife. She was a beautiful soul,” said Maria Tropea, who said she was Suriel’s sister-in-law.
Two juveniles, whom police did not identify, were also pulled from the silver Sentra and were listed in critical condition at AtlantiCare City Division and Cooper Hospital, respectively, police said. A third passenger, Kenneth Jones, 25, of Pleasantville, also was taken to AtlantiCare with serious injuries, police said.
Two occupants of the red Sentra were taken to AtlantiCare with minor injuries.
One man, who stopped to help pull occupants from the burning car, was taken to AtlantiCare with unspecified injuries, police said.
The driver of the Toyota Yaris was not injured, police said.
That section of the Black Horse Pike was closed to traffic for about 7½ hours as police investigated.