Florida Mother, 2 Children Die After Car Collides With Alligator

A Florida mother and her two children died early Monday morning in a car accident that involved an alligator crossing the road, according to the Associated Press. Amber Stanley was killed along with her son, Jack, and daughter, Autumn, from injuries after their car hit a tree and caught fire after colliding with the alligator.

Stanley, 24, of Callahan, Florida, was traveling in a Kia Soul on the northbound section of Interstate 95 in South Carolina in a Kia Soul with 4-year-old Jack and 2-year-old Autumn shortly before 1 a.m. Monday.

Stanley and her two children died from burns, according to Orangeburg County Chief Deputy Coroner Sean Fogle. The crash occurred near Holly Hill, which is roughly 50 miles northwest of Charleston.

They were reportedly on a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

"It's been hard. I mean, I know it happened. I'm still kind of processing though," Josh Stanley, Amber Stanley's husband and the father of the children, told WJAX, a CBS affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the accident, according to the Times and Democrat.

There have been other instances of collisions with alligators but they often don't result in human fatalities. In one instance, a Florida driver survived with minimal injuries after her car was flipped over after hitting a 9-foot alligator on the highway.

A dash-cam video showed what it can look like to come across an alligator on the road in the middle of the night, without enough time to swerve out of the way.