Two killed in crash outside Fremont
By Steve Herring
Published in News on June 26, 2011 12:43 AM
FREMONT -- Two people died in a two-car head-on collision Saturday evening on U.S. 117 North near Fremont Auto Tire and Gas less than a mile north of the town limits.
Speed was cited by the Highway Patrol as a factor in the wreck that occurred shortly after 9 p.m.
The identities of the two victims, a man and a woman, were not immediately available pending notification of next of kin. The woman was believed to be a resident of the Lucama area.
Highway Patrol Trooper L.J. Bunn said that a late model Ford Focus with South Carolina license tags was traveling south on U.S. 117 when it crossed the center line striking a late model Toyota Yaris. It appears that the Focus was speeding when the wreck occurred, he said.
The force of the impact was so great that the Toyota was knocked off the road, coming to rest in a yard on the east side of the highway.
The Focus burst into flames and ran off the west side of the road coming to rest facing north and lying on the passenger side in a ditch.
It took Fremont firefighters and other emergency personnel more than an hour to remove the male victim from the Focus. Firefighters had to cut the top off of the vehicle.
Emergency personnel stood on either side of the car holding up large blue tarps to shield the body from view as it was removed, placed on a stretcher and loaded in a Wayne EMS ambulance.
During the recovery, the Toyota, which was about 100 feet north of the Focus and on the opposite side of the highway, was wrapped in a blue tarp until emergency workers could recover the body.
Debris including tires, bumpers, broken glass and other car parts was strewn along the highway between the two vehicles.
Bunn said that the investigation would continue through the evening and that more information should be available by today.
Fremont police also responded to the accident scene.