I-75 crash victims make trip to Brazil for burial

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The five family members who died in a Florida highway crash were headed to their native Brazil for burial Thursday night.

The caskets containing the Carmo family were loaded onto a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta, three days after a funeral service in Cobb County, a spokesman for the airline told the AJC.

The five were among 15 from a tiny Brazilian church who were headed back to Cobb County from a religious conference Jan. 29 when they were caught up in a massive crash on I-75, near Gainesville, Fla. Killed were Jose and Adriana Carmo, both pastors at the International Church of the Restoration, and their 17-year-old daughter Leticia. Jose Carmo's brother Edson Carmo, and Edson's girlfriend, Roselia DaSilva, also died.

Jose and Adriana Carmo's younger daughter, 15-year-old Lidiane, was the only member of her immediate family to survive, but was critically injured in the wreck. The Sprayberry High School freshman remained hospitalized Thursday in Florida.

After news of the family's and church's plight spread, Delta Air Lines offered to fly the victims home, free of charge, said Tad Hutcheson, vice president of community and public affairs for the airline. Delta Air Lines also allowed five relatives and friends of the Carmo family to accompany the victims on the flight, Hutcheson said.