According to relatives, eight members of the same family were killed in a violent incident on a Georgia highway this week.
According to Atlanta News First, the victims – five children aged 2 to 16, a mother, her pregnant daughter, and her daughter’s partner — were pronounced dead at the scene when their van caught fire on I-85 in Jackson County after colliding with a semitrailer.
According to prior reports, first responders confirmed the deaths of seven passengers inside the van.
An eighth casualty was later verified in a news release from the Georgia Department of Public Safety, but police would not reveal their identities beyond stating that they were three adults and five children.
In a statement to PEOPLE, authorities said an investigation found the semi was “following too closely” behind the van.
According to officials, the incident resulted in a “chain reaction” involving four other automobiles.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Safety, the truck’s driver, Kane Aaron Hammock, 33, of Gainesville, Ga., was “arrested and charged with eight counts of Vehicular Homicide (2nd degree), one count of Feticide by Vehicle (2nd degree), one count of Following Too Closely, one count of No Registration, and one count of Driver to Exercise Due Care.”
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“There is a possibility of one adult [victim] being pregnant, but this will not be confirmed until an autopsy has been completed,” investigators said.
It was unclear whether Hammock had filed a plea or hired an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The victims’ families told Atlanta News First that the dead included pregnant Kenia Ramirez, Darwin Ventura, and their kid, Kayle, as well as Kenia’s mother, Sonia Maribel Ramirez, and her children Justin, Andy, Natali, and Evan.
Furkids Animal Rescue and Shelters posted on Facebook that one of their vans was delivering 37 kittens to a partner shelter when it became involved in the multi-vehicle crash.
“We are devastated for the families affected, and our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to them,” they wrote, adding that their driver was hurt and their van was “destroyed,” with “many of our cats scattered in fear.”
All but two of the cats have subsequently been recovered, with one kitten being hospitalized due to injuries.
“It is truly a miracle that more were not lost or fatally wounded – but we know we aren’t out of the woods yet,” the group posted on its website.
The Georgia Department of Public Safety announced that the National Transportation Safety Board and Georgia State Patrol are looking into the collision.
