2 high school teens dead after car plummets into canal near nursing school in Broward

Two Broward high schoolers died Wednesday night after police say their car plunged into a canal in Sunrise.

The tragedy happened around 5:30 p.m. when a Buick went into the canal in the 7700 block of Oakland Park Boulevard, near the Jersey College School of Nursing, Sunrise Police Spokeswoman Otishia Browning-Smith said.

Sunrise Fire Rescue pulled a 17-year-old girl from the more than 20-foot deep canal and rushed her to Florida Medical Center, where she later died, Browning-Smith said. A 16-year-old boy was later found in the water by divers and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The two teens attended Plantation High School, police added.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, but Browning-Smith noted the exact location of where it occurred is peculiar since the canal is connected to a parking lot, not a main traffic road.

“It’s in a weird spot,” Browning-Smith said. “It’s not an area people would frequent.”

The station reported that a worker and students at the nursing school jumped into the water trying to help rescue the victims, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami.

“None of the three could do anything — the car was well-submerged at that point and all they could see was the bubbles coming up,” said campus director Dennis Garberg.