MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Six cars and a tractor-trailer were involved in a chain-reaction crash that shut down all southbound lanes of Florida's Turnpike in southwest Miami-Dade County on Wednesday morning.
The tractor-trailer swerved to avoid hitting a wheelbarrow in the northbound lanes of the highway, north of Southwest Eighth Street, causing it to overturn and impact the southbound lanes, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Sanchez said.
"All this was caused by an unsecured load -- a wheelbarrow that came off a pickup truck," Sanchez told Local 10 News.
Betty Caldera was on her way to work when she was struck by the tractor-trailer.
"The tractor-trailer changed lanes on top of me and hit my car," she told Local 10.
A paramedic also on her way to work helped Caldera to get out of her car after the crash.
One person was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
"All this over an improperly secured wheelbarrow," Caldera said. "It's really something."
The FHP is investigating.
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