Metro

Crash wipes out 7 in family

“They didn’t stand a chance.”

Seven members of a beloved Bronx family — including three generations of grandparents, daughters and granddaughters — were killed yesterday when their speeding SUV flew over a highway guardrail and plunged 60 feet into a secluded area of The Bronx Zoo, authorities said.

“I lost my family — what can I say? I don’t want to be here. I want to die,’’ said stricken Juan Gonzalez, 45, whose wife, Maria, and 10-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, were killed in the horrific accident.

Gonzalez’s brother-in-law, Ignacio Nunez, 64, was numb.

“Only God knows what happened . . . I lost my mom, my dad, my sisters and my nieces,” the shattered man said.

Fordham University staffer Maria “Fina’’ Gonzalez, 45, was driving the group from her sister Nelly’s home on Astor Avenue to her own house on Taylor Avenue for a family party in honor of their elderly parents, who were visiting from the Dominican Republic, relatives said.

Fina’s 85-year-old father, Jacob Nunez, was sitting next to her in the front passenger seat. Nelly Nunez, 35, who also works at Fordham, and their mother, Ana Julia Martinez, 81, were in the middle, and the sisters’ three little girls — Jocelyn, plus Nelly’s two daughters, Niely Rosario, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3 — were in the back, police said.

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GONE: Sisters Niely, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3, perished in the back seat of the SUV, along with 10-year-old cousin Jocelyn Gonzalez, whose mom, “Fina” Gonzalez, was driving. She, too, died.

“Fina” Gonzalez

GONE: Sisters Niely, 7, and Marly Rosario, 3, perished in the back seat of the SUV, along with 10-year-old cousin Jocelyn Gonzalez (inset above), whose mom, “Fina” Gonzalez (inset top), was driving. She, too, died. (
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The SUV was traveling southbound in the left lane of the Bronx River Parkway “at a high rate of speed” — about 70 mph in a 50-mph zone — when it suddenly veered into the center divider at about 12:30 p.m., authorities said.

The white Honda Pilot then ricocheted across all three southbound lanes and went airborne, flying over the right-hand guardrail before flipping and plummeting into the heavily wooded area below, which is closed to zoo visitors, officials said.

“They flew right over the guardrail, didn’t even touch it,” a law-enforcement source said.

An FDNY source at the scene said, “It [was] terrible, just carnage. The passengers didn’t stand a chance.”

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly described how the vehicle landed on its roof with its passengers trapped inside, all wearing their seat belts.

They were killed instantly.

“We believe that the driver . . . struck the Jersey barrier [the median], and in reacting and trying to correct, turned right, went through the barrier and dropped,” Kelly said.

Police sources shot down reports of a possible blown tire, saying there was no evidence of one. Investigators are looking at the vehicle’s speed and weight as factors in the crash.

Fina Gonzalez’s family added that she had no known medical conditions.

Grim-faced FDNY Deputy Chief Ronald Werner, who was at the scene, said, “I’ve been in the Fire Department 30 years. Sometimes you come upon events that are horrific, and this was one of them.’’

EMS Deputy Chief Howard Sickles said the wreckage was so wrenching that even the rescue crew was distraught.

“Based on their horrific injuries, there was nothing we could do,’’ he said.

“Everybody was taken aback by it because everybody . . . knows a child, and you can see the emotion on everybody. It’s very upsetting.’’

Authorities brought in dogs on the ground and employed a police helicopter with thermal-imaging technology to search the thickly wooded area to make sure there were no other victims.

A zoo spokeswoman said visitors and animals were never in danger.

“The vehicle landed in the southeast part of the zoo in a heavily wooded area that is closed to the public and has no animals there,” said Mary Dixon.

The two elderly victims — who had 13 children, six in the United States — had just arrived here from their small, rural town of Dajabón on Thursday, kin said.

Gonzalez’s son, Jonel, said the grandparents were in town for Jocelyn’s First Communion Saturday at St. Raymond’s Church.

They liked to visit their grandchildren — and New York City — every year.

“It was the highlight of their life,’’ said son-in-law Simon Torres. “They were very humble, they were good people . . . They loved going to Times Square.’’

The couple was staying with Nelly and her husband, Ramon Rosario.

Rosario — who lost his wife and two daughters — gathered with other relatives yesterday at the Medical Examiner’s Office in The Bronx to identify the bodies, too grief-stricken to speak.

The Rosarios’ neighbor Felicia Lee, 29, said through tears, “The [two girls] were so beautiful . . . They were always staying with their mommy. Their mommy always had them.

“They were such nice, hard-working people,’’ she said.

Mayor Bloomberg said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this tragic time.”

Maria Gonzalez went by “Fina,’’ from her middle name, Josefina, to avoid confusion with her younger sister, Nelly, whose first name, too, was Maria. Both were employed at Fordham as cleaners.

Jonel Gonzalez said his mom started working full time to help pay for his college tuition.

Fordham’s president, the Rev. Joseph McShane, said last night, “It is hard to imagine a more tragic loss for a family, nor a more terrible grief than their loved ones must be enduring.’’

Bronx Borough President Reuben Diaz Jr. vowed to push for an investigation into the highway’s design, noting it was the second time in a year that a car had flown off the parkway.

In June, a Bronx politician and his girlfriend survived after his car flew off a 30-foot-high section of the parkway in the other direction and fell onto a truck.

Additional reporting by Julia Marsh , Douglas Montero, Jessica Simeone, C.J. Sullivan , Antonio Antenucci, Helen Freund and Bob Kappstatter