Florida crash: Three Britons dead, children fight for life

Three British tourists are dead and four children are fighting for their lives today after their minivan collided with a gas tanker in central Florida.

The crash happened on a highway near Orlando early yesterday, Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Larry Coggins said.

The driver, Ayodeji Babson, 40, from London, and his wife Dawn, 41, died at the scene. Another passenger, 41-year-old Simeon Cole, died later in hospital.

The four children – Faith Cole, five; Tony Cole, seven; Phoebe Cole, nine; and Robert Babson, nine – were in “worse than critical condition”, Coggins told a local newspaper.

The group was driving to a grocery store before dawn when their minivan turned into the path of the gas tanker, police said. The tanker driver was not injured.

The Babson and Cole families flew into Orlando late Friday. Simeon Cole’s wife and their infant child were not in the van at the time of the accident.