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Video: Woman Drives Van Into Ocean to Kill Children, According to Witness

The internet was abuzz earlier today with the news about a woman who was in a van that had been submerged into the ocean. The headline was pretty grabby -- woman in a van has to be rescued from the water. But an update to the story revealed a darker...
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The internet was abuzz earlier today with the news about a woman who was in a van that had been submerged into the ocean.

The headline was pretty grabby -- woman in a van has to be rescued from the water.

But an update to the story revealed a darker side to the unusual incident.

According to one of the rescuers who came to the van's aid, two of the woman's three children who were in the van were screaming at the men from inside the vehicle that their mother was trying to kill them.

The 31-year-old woman apparently drove her minivan into the ocean on Silver Beach, which is in Daytona Beach. According to witnesses, the woman was driving along the shore when she made a sharp left turn into the water.

As can be seen in the raw video below, shot by a passerby, two men are seen charging toward the submerged minivan, fighting through wind and waves.

At one point, the men attempt to rescue a small child from the van's hatchback.

During the rescue, the woman, who is also pregnant, is seen walking out and away from the minivan with her child still inside. She also appears to be disoriented.

The children, ages 3, 9, and 10, were all rescued and taken to a local hospital as a precaution.

No one was injured during the incident.

But, according to Tim Tesseneer, one of the men in the video, two of the children in the backseat were yelling that their mother was trying to kill them and herself.

The children were calling out for help, Tesseneer said.

"The kids are like, 'No, there's a baby. There's a baby,'" Tesseneer told WESH.com. "She [the mother] wouldn't say a word. She didn't tell us nothing about a baby.

"She had this look on her face," he added. "I can't describe it. It was just an awful blank look, like spaced-out look."

According to investigators, the woman, who is refusing to speak about the incident, has been admitted to a hospital for a mental health examination.

The Department of Children and Families is also investigating the incident.

As for the kids, they'll be handed over to family once they're released from the hospital.

Send your story tips to the author, Chris Joseph. Follow Chris Joseph on Twitter



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