A 26-year-old Richmond, Virginia, man died last month in the multi-car pileup on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Florida.

A total of 10 people died shortly before 4:00 a.m. on Jan. 29, in a pair of crashes in the northbound and southbound lanes of the interstate. At least 12 cars, a motorhome and six semi-trailers were involved in the two car accidents, the Florida Highway Patrol reports.

According to the highway patrol, smoke from a brush fire on the side of the interstate made it hard for the drivers to see. The six-lane interstate had been closed earlier in the night following another car accident.

However, a sergeant and lieutenant with the Florida Highway Patrol reopened the road not long before the fatal crashes.

A spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol said the Virginia man was traveling north. His vehicle was one of 10 involved in that crash. A 27-year-old Gainesville woman, a passenger in one of the northbound vehicles, was also fatally injured in the crash.

A 2012 Dodge Caravan was also in the northbound pileup. Out of six people riding in the van, only one survived. A spokeswoman for a local hospital said the surviving 15-year-old girl was in critical condition.

The other Caravan victims included the girl's father, a 43-year-old pastor from Kennesaw, Georgia, her 39-year-old mother and her 17-year-old sister. A 38-year-old man with the same last name was driving the vehicle and a 41-year-old woman was riding in the van. Both of them also died.

In the southbound lanes of Interstate 75, at least four vehicles burned. Two days after the crash, investigators were still trying to identify three badly burned bodies.

Eighteen people were admitted to hospitals following the two accidents.

Source: Associated Press, "Pastors split on when to go home; 1 lives, 1 dies," Mike Schneider, Jan. 31, 2012