Florida SUV crash that killed nine comes after matriarch’s birthday

The nine family members — including six kids — killed in a tragic car wreck Tuesday when their SUV careened off a Florida road into a canal were visiting the Sunshine State to celebrate the matriarch of the family’s 80th birthday.

The 56-year-old SUV driver, Pamela Wiggins, revealed on social media that her mother’s extended family had traveled from across the country to party at Patricia Edwards’ disco-themed birthday bash Saturday.

Wiggins — whose own birthday was Wednesday — teased two photographs of family members donning 70s-style wigs, peace earrings and psychedelic threads in front of a “Let’s Boogie” sign.

“Just wanted to say thank to all my family that traveled to Florida for my mom’s 80th bday party. We really appreciate the love,” Wiggins wrote on Facebook just after midnight Monday.

“My mom really enjoyed herself and I will post pictures later love you all.”

But she never posted the pictures.

Just eight hours later, Wiggins was driving through a rural stretch of Hatton Highway near Belle Glade and lost control of the 7-seater SUV overloaded with nine passengers, none of whom were wearing seatbelts.

The dead include six children: 1-year-old Naleia Tucker; 3-year-old Ziaire Mack; 5-year-olds Yasire Smith and Kamdien Edwards; 8-year-old Imani Andre Ajani Hall and 14-year-old Michael Anthony Hall Jr.

Wiggins, her daughter Leiana Alyse Hall, 30; and her cousin Anyia Monique Lee Tucker, 21, were also killed.

Wiggins specifically thanked the two women for their help in pulling together Edwards’ birthday party on social media in the hours before the tragedy.

Jorden Rickey Hall, 26, is the lone survivor of the wreck and is in serious condition.

Everyone in the car hailed from Bridgeport, Connecticut and Chesapeake, Virginia, according to a police report.

A preliminary police report revealed that Wiggins failed to negotiate a sharp left turn “for undetermined reasons” before careening off the road.

Some experts believe she may have realized there was a turn too late.

The stretch of land where the tragedy occurred is surrounded by a seemingly endless field of sugarcane that could have played tricks on the driver’s brain.

Eric Dumbaugh, who leads a center for road safety at Florida Atlantic University in Palm Beach County, told the Associated Press that crashes on rural highways like this one often follow a pattern, where drivers experience a kind of “highway hypnosis” – cruising down a flat, straight and often dark road, until a bend takes them by surprise.

“And then all of a sudden there’s a sharp turn,” he said.

“There’s often not much shoulder there, so when you run off the roadway, you run into whatever happens to be on the side of it. Which could be a tree, right? It could be a ditch. Or in the case of Palm Beach County, oftentimes it’s a canal.”

The cause of the crash is still under investigation and has been labeled a “catastrophic, tragic event” by the National Transportation Safety Board.

“I keep saying it’s a nightmare,” one family member posted on Facebook. “Lord we need you.”