Lidiane Carmo, 15, has been upgraded to fair condition as she sits in a Florida hospital. But describing her condition as fair is only technical. Her family is dead.
Carmo survived that horrific multi-car pile on I-75 near Gainesville Florida early Sunday morning. Her parents, sister, uncle and his girlfriend did not.
The Carmos had gone down to a three day-conference in Florida with fellow members of Church of the Restoration in Marietta. Jose Carmo is the church’s pastor. Jose and his wife Adriana were making the trip with their daughters Leticia, 17, and Lidiane.
They were packed in two church vans and were driving back up I-75 early Sunday morning.
Around 4 a.m. those vans drove into a blind interstate. It was covered with fog and smoke from a brush fire. They had no idea of the chaos in front of them. The two vans would be among a pile of 20 wrecked vehicles. 10 people are dead and 18 others hurt.
Jose and his wife were killed along with Leticia, Jose’s brother Edsom Carmo; and his brother’s girlfriend, Rose. Lidiane was in critical condition until late Monday. She was still in a Florida hospital. Family members said she was just regaining consciousness Monday afternoon after undergoing surgery. Lidiane has several broken bones and internal bleeding. As of late Monday she was sedated. No one has told her that her family is gone.
“We need prayers,” Rosana Alves, a family friend and church member, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
After learning of the crash, an uncle drove to Florida to be with Lidiane in the hospital. Once she is well enough, the family hopes she can be moved to an Atlanta hospital. Metro Atlanta Ambulance in Marietta has offered to bring her back, even if the family can’t afford it.
Lidiane and Leticia went to Sprayberry High School. Cobb County School Spokesman Doug Goodwin tells WSB counselors were on hand all day at the school.
"Anytime we're dealing with the tragic passing of our student, in this case, multiple students, it's just incredibly sad. Our role is to support the families and support the friends of the students and provide the resources they need," said Goodwin.
I-75 had been shutdown for several hours early Sunday morning because of the thick fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set.
"There was absolutely no warning, whatsoever. It went from being just literally being seeing as far as you could on the interstate to just nothing, just like that," said motorist Burt Thomas told CNN.
“You could hear cars hitting each other,” Steven R. Camps, of Gainesville Fla, told the Associated Press. “People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy. ... If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world.”
Rescue crews said it was so dark, they could only find victims by waiting for them to scream in agony.
The Carmos led a small Brazilian church in a Marietta office complex. Jose and Adriana moved the United States 12 years ago. They became leaders of a group of other immigrations from their homeland. Two years ago the Carmos quit their jobs and dedicated themselves to the church that Jose helped found.
“They were leading by faith,” Alves said. “They loved the work, the work for God. They loved reaching people and talking about God.”
Their daughters Leticia and Lidiane Carmo were extremely close, Alves said. Both attended Sprayberry High School, danced together at church and also took music lessons together.
Edsom Carmo, and his girlfriend, Rose, lived in Woodstock. They leave behind children, Alves said.
If possible, family and friends would like to send the Carmo family members back to Brazil for burials. Anyone wanting to assist the family can donate to the Carmo Family Funeral Fund at any Bank of America, Alves said.