Ruben Rodriguez and Juliana Rodriguez Plata had been married for just a few days when a tragic accident struck them in Colorado on Thursday morning, leaving their young son orphaned. The couple, aged 33 and 37, were married on Saturday and left for a honeymoon in the mountains a few days later. Rodriguez Plata’s parents, Luz Melba Martinez and Carlos Joaquin Plata, who had traveled from Colombia, and the newlyweds’ one-year-old son, Danny, took them along.
En route, a semi-truck loaded with large blue plastic pipes overturned on I-70, sending the pipes flying onto the highway where they struck several vehicles and caused “a series of accidents” involving at least seven vehicles, according to police. The family was traveling in one of the vehicles struck by the pipes, which weighed 500 pounds each, and the impact killed Rodriguez, Rodriguez Plata and Martinez, 9 News reports. Plata and his young grandson were injured, ABC 7 reports.
Police believe no other vehicles were involved in the tractor-trailer’s rollover crash. Witnesses say the location of a construction site in the area may have played a role. The 100 pipes the truck was hauling ended up spread across a stretch of highway the size of two football fields and were closed for hours. “The baby without both of his parents, you know? It’s tough,” Rodriguez’s sister-in-law said. “It’s tough on the family. That’s why we’re gathered here now, trying to be strong together.” A GoFundMe campaign for the family has raised more than $30,000. (More stories from Colorado.)
