By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A SOUTH Florida family of four killed in an horrific traffic accident on Sunday morning in Florida has close family connections in Grand Bahama, The Tribune has discovered.

Randolph Russell, a native of Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama, has lost his son, Nathan Russell, his daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren in the crash on Interstate 75 near the small city of Alachua.

Nathan Russell, 37; his wife, Lynda, 35; and two of their children, 15-year-old LaNyah and 10-year-old Natayah, died in a crash on the southbound carriageway near mile marker 397, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Ten-year-old Nathan Russell Jr was critically injured in the crash and taken to University of Florida Shands Hospital in Gainsville. There were reports that Nathan Jr died in hospital yesterday, but The Tribune was unable to confirm that up to press time last night.

The Tribune attempted to contact the father yesterday at his home in Freeport, but there was no answer and it is believed that he may have left the island after learning the news.

A close relative in Eight Mile Rock described the incident as “very devastating news”. The relative said that Nathan Russell was born in the United States and resided in South Florida.

According to reports, at 8.43am, Mr Russell was driving south on Interstate 75 (I-75), near US 441, with his family in a Chrysler 200. Officials said he went off the road and onto the right shoulder and hit the rear of a disabled tractor-trailer that was parked on the shoulder.

In the Chrysler, only Natayah Russell was wearing a seat belt. The family resided in Hollywood, Florida.