6-year-old dies, others suffer life-threatening injuries in crash on Midlands road

A 6-year-old was killed in a crash on a Midlands road that left two other people in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, officials said Monday.

Sahliyah Haynes is the girl from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who was identified as the child who died at the scene of June 18 accident on Interstate 77, according to Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill.

She was one of three people ejected from a 2005 GMC SUV when it hit a median and flipped over multiple times near the 45 mile marker on I-77, said Master Trooper David Jones of South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The two others were airlifted to an area hospital, according to Jones. Further information on their conditions was not available.

Overall, there were eight people in the SUV that was being driven south on I-77 by a Pennsylvania man, Jones said. There was no word if the other five occupants were hurt.

None of the occupants wore a seat belt, according to Jones.

Information on what caused the SUV to veer off the road was not available, but the collision remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol and the coroner’s office.

Through Monday morning, 462 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2021, state Department of Public Safety data shows. Of those, 321 had access to seat belts, but 161 were not wearing them, DPS reported.

At least three people have been killed in Fairfield County crashes in 2021, and seat belts were not used in any of the deaths, according to DPS.