The Trinidads were on their way home from Ocean City, Maryland when a truck lost control and went head-on with their van
The family was about 2-hours from their home in Teaneck, New Jersey when a pickup truck lost control, crossed a median, and started driving in the wrong direction of the freeway before it went head-on with the Trinidads' Toyota Sienna minivan on Friday, July 6, 2018, near Pine Tree Road, in Townsend, Delaware.
Other drivers attempted to help the family after the accident, but it was too late. 5 members of the Trinidad family, including dad, Audie Trinidad, 61, and 4 daughters had died on the scene.
Mary Rose Ballocanag, 53, who works as a nurse, was the only one in the vehicle to survive the accident. She suffered broken arms, legs, ribs and is currently at Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware.
The daughters, Kaitlyn, 20, was a college student, Danna, 17, played volleyball in high school, twins Melissa and Allison, 13-years-old, were getting ready to enter high school. The 4 daughters, who were sitting in the back of the van, were not wearing seatbelts.
Audie immigrated to the United States in the 1980s from the Philippines. He served on the USS Mount Whitney with the Navy. He and Mary Rose Ballocanag settled in Teaneck, New Jersey where he worked for the U.S. Postal Service.
Audie's brother, Daniel, told the press in front of the family's home in Teaneck, "How are you going to bury five people at the same time?" He then went on to say, "God said there’s a plan. What’s God’s plan now? This is like a tragedy a hundred times over."
Friends of the Trinidad family have set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for expenses.
Authorities are currently trying to determine if the pickup truck driver, 44-year-old Albert S. Hubbard, was impaired when he was driving his vehicle. He did not suffer any non-life-threatening injuries. Another man who was a passenger, 30-years-old, from Hurlock, Maryland, was also treated and released.
Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images