Two die in crash with truck
By Catharin Shepard
Published in News on October 6, 2010 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS
Highway Patrol Sgt. Art Kirby walks away from the accident on U.S. 117 South in Mount Olive Tuesday afternoon which killed the driver, Mary Smith, 90, and her daughter, Mary Jones, 73.
MOUNT OLIVE - A mother and daughter died Tuesday afternoon in a vehicle accident on U.S. 117 outside of Mount Olive.
Mary Jones, 73, was driving east on West Main Street with her mother, Mary Smith, 90, in the passenger seat when she pulled out in front of an 18-wheeler traveling south on U.S. 117 Bypass, according to State Highway Patrol Trooper Bryan Leonard.
"They pulled out in front of an unloaded southbound tractor-trailer," he said.
The Holmes Trucking tractor-trailer, from Pink Hill, struck the Buick Park Avenue on the driver's side.
The impact occurred in the right-hand southbound lane at the intersection of U.S. 117 Bypass and West Main Street. The Buick was forced over the grass median and came to rest facing northwest in the left-hand turn lane of the northbound highway lanes. The tractor-trailer came to rest across the median, blocking the turn lane and the left-hand southbound highway lane.
The driver and passenger in the Buick both died at the scene. The driver was killed on impact, and the passenger died soon after. Mount Olive Fire Department firefighters extracted the victims.
The accident occurred around 2:12 p.m. just outside of the Mount Olive town limits. The Mount Olive Fire Department and Calypso Fire Department responded to the scene along with the Mount Olive Police Department, State Highway Patrol and Wayne County Emergency Services.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Cartha Williams, was not injured. He was transported to Wayne Memorial hospital following the accident.
Some gasoline leaked from the Buick. Firefighters sprayed foam at the scene as a precaution. Officials blocked the road but left one northbound and one southbound lane open to allow traffic flow as they attended to the scene.
No charges have been filed. Leonard is conducting the investigation.