Three high school students died in a car accident on Christmas Day when their car slid off the road in a rural area of Alabama and struck a large oak tree, police stated.
The teens have been identified as Cassidy Dunn, Emilee Fain, and Addyson Martin, stated Lt. Michael McDuffie, chief investigator with the Geneva Police Department. All teens were between 16 and 17 years old and were students at Geneva High School.
The three girls were in the front seat of the car, McDuffie stated. Two other passengers in the back seat survived the accident.
Geneva is over 200 miles south of Birmingham.
One of the survivors was able to get herself out of the vehicle and was affected with only minor bumps and bruises, while the other was airlifted to Children’s of Alabama, a hospital in Birmingham, where her condition is stable, McDuffie stated.
“It’s a real tragedy,” Lt. McDuffie informed CNN. “The city is hurting right now for sure.”
McDuffie stated that the girls are all close friends and they spent Christmas with each other. They had just left one house and were visiting another one’s home.
“Just being friends out on Christmas Day,” McDuffie stated.
Local residents visited the First Baptist Church to mourn the girls.
“Those girls/ touched lives of many, and that’s why you see the real hurt and the coming together of young and old,” stated Geneva City School Board President Ron Snell.
Generally, unintentional injuries, such as car accidents, are the leading cause of death among teenagers between 15 and 19 in the US, according to CDC report.
World Health Organization noted in 2015 that among 10- to 19-year-olds across the world, road traffic injuries were the leading reason for death in 2015, after lower respiratory infections and suicide.
