Names of parents killed in Carter Caves accident released

UPDATE 6/20/22 @ 10:20 p.m.

CARTER COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) - The names of a couple who died in a traffic accident Saturday night at Carter Caves State Resort Park have been released.

Jitu Galani, 41, and Nitu Galani, 39, of Beavercreek, Ohio, were pronounced dead by Carter County Coroner William Waddell, along with their 4-year-old son, according to Kentucky State Police. The couple’s other son, an 11-year-old boy, managed to get out of the vehicle and flag down a park ranger for help.

Troopers say Jitu Galani was driving a 2014 Honda CRV that rolled backward over a culvert and landed on its top in a creek. Galani had been driving in reverse after he passed the entrance to the park, investigators explained.

According to the coroner, the family planned to camp with friends overnight at Carter Caves before heading home to Beavercreek, Ohio, after vacationing in Virginia Beach. Beavercreek is in the greater Dayton area.

ORIGINAL STORY

CARTER COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ) – An accident that ended with a vehicle on its top in a creek took the lives of a mother, father and their 4-year-old son during the weekend, according to Carter County Coroner William Waddell.

The crash happened near Carter Caves State Resort Park.

“There were all kinds of emergency vehicles. It was 9:25, 9:20 at night and the entire place was lit up ... I was just kind of sitting there left to wonder, but I just had a bad feeling about it,” Pamela Wright, who lives nearby, said.

According to the coroner, the family planned to camp with friends overnight at Carter Caves before heading home to Beavercreek, Ohio, after vacationing in Virginia Beach.

The coroner says the father, 41, who was driving, missed the entrance to the state resort park, but when trying to back up, went over an embankment into a creek. The car landed on its top in the creek, officials reported.

The father, mother, 39, and their 4-year-old son all died in the crash.

The couple’s other son, an 11-year-old boy, managed to get out of the vehicle and flag down a park ranger for help.

The 11-year-old suffered minor injuries, the coroner said.

Officials report that everyone inside the vehicle was wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.

The coroner says all bodies have been sent to the medical examiner’s office in Frankfort.

No further information has been released at this time.

Crews with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are assessing the crash site to see if anything can be done to improve that section of road.

According to a spokesperson with KYTC, they received a call and request for a guardrail to be placed in that section where the accident happened. Engineers are assessing that request.

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