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Woman Killed In Canal Accident Grandmother Of 10

MIAMI LAKES (CBS4) – The woman killed after her SUV plunged into a canal off State Road 826 Sunday morning has been identified at Rosa Maria Malave of Hialeah, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Captain Eric Baum said the accident occurred around 9 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the highway near 154th Street.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers and Miami-Dade police officers found a maroon Ford Explorer completely submerged in the canal. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue divers located Malave, 53 in the murky waters, pulled her shore and began efforts to resuscitate her.

She was transported to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital where she later died.

FHP spokesman Lt. Alex Annunziato said a child's car sat was seen while searching the SUV for any other possible victims. Divers then made a thorough underwater search looking for a child, but were unable to find anyone else.

Investigators said no other vehicles were involved in the accident and they do not believe there was anyone else in the SUV at the time of the crash.

Malave's family todl CBS4's Natalia Zea that she is a mother of five, and a grandmother of 10 children. Malave's mother, Luz Alfonso can't believe she is gone.

"I was talking to her like 2 minutes before, (she said) "Ma, I'll call you right back", and she never called me back…I love her so much, I'm going to miss her!" Alfonso said through tears.

Afonso and some other family members rushed to the scene when they got word an accident had happened. Alfonso didn't know her daughter was already gone.

"I had to find out from my family that she was in the hospital already dead," Alfonso said.

It is even tougher for Malave's family who don't know what caused her to crash through the guard rail, and they don't know if she was conscious as the water rushed in.

"I wish there would've been somebody there to help her, you know," Alfonso said.

Rosa was known as a fighter, her family said. She had recently been diagnosed with lupus and had severe arthritis in her legs, but lately had been feeling better, they said.

"She was so happy this week, she was like "Ma, I love you", we were together, she was a good daughter," Alfonso said, adding "I don't know what I'm gonna do without her."

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