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Two Children Dead, Others Injured As Car Plunges Into Johnston Creek

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SMITHFIELD — Two children remained in the hospital in critical condition Wednesday after the car their mother was driving flipped and plunged into a Johnston County creek. Two of her own children died in the accident.

Five-year-old Taylor Joanne Hall drowned in the creek. Seven-year-old Toni Nicole Hall died at 9 p.m. Tuesday night at Wake Medical Center in Raleigh.

Two 1-year-old children, Taryn Elaine Hall and Ryan Overton Moss, both of Wake County, remain in critical condition at Wake Medical Center. Regina Nicole Hall, 26, of Benson was released from the hospital.

Hall is the mother of three of the four children, including the two children who died. She was babysitting the fourth child at the time of the wreck. The family bulldog was also killed in the accident.

It happened shortly before 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Witnesses say the car that Hall was driving never made it over a bridge in the Cleveland section of the county. The 1987 Pontiac 6000 sedan instead plunged into the rising Middle Creek.

Hall managed to escape. Soon after, four children were pulled from the car after being submerged for as long as 10 minutes.

Authorities consider the stretch of Raleigh Road where the car crashed to be safe. However, one nearby resident, John Barefoot, considers the windy, country bridge to be the "most dangerous in the world."

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