Two Ocala residents killed in crash on Florida's Turnpike in Lake County

CLERMONT – Friday’s crash on Florida’s Turnpike, involving four passenger vehicles and two semitractor-trailer trucks, claimed the lives of an Ocala driver and his passenger, also from Ocala, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

FHP said the crash is still under investigation but released new details early Saturday about the 7:15 a.m. Friday crash that shut down the busy toll road for hours.

A 23-year-old Tallahassee woman was driving a Toyota Corolla in the southbound inside lane near mile marker 286 when she hit the rear of a 2022 Chevy Equinox whose occupants were a 69-year-old Ocala man, who was driving, and his 68-year-old female passenger.

The Equinox was stopped for traffic ahead.

After the initial crash, the Corolla struck the back of a semitractor-trailer driven by a 34-year-old Anthony man.

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The crash caused the Equinox to leave the travel lane and enter the inside shoulder and slam into the rear of a Jeep Cherokee driven by a 67-year-old Port Richey woman, the patrol reported.

The Equinox ran off the road and hit the center guardrail. It then spun around and hit the left front of a Dodge Ram pickup truck driven by a 31-year-old Inverness man, the FHP reported.

The Equinox was propelled alongside the guardrail until it became wedged beneath the trailer of a semitractor-trailer driven by a 35-year-old man from Dunnellon.

The drivers of the Toyota and the Jeep were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries. The semitractor-trailer drivers were not injured.

The Ocala man and woman were pronounced dead at the scene. The FHP does not release the names of crash victims.

This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Friday crash on Florida's Turnpike killed two Ocala residents