5 Killed in Head-On Collision With Wrong-Way Driver on South Carolina Interstate

Lorenz Duchamps
By Lorenz Duchamps
November 16, 2020US News
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5 Killed in Head-On Collision With Wrong-Way Driver on South Carolina Interstate
South Carolina Highway Patrol officers are seen in a file photo taken in October 2015. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A head-on collision between two vehicles that happened over the weekend on a South Carolina interstate left five people dead, a trooper confirmed.

Authorities responded to the car accident at about 2:15 a.m. on Sunday in the southbound lanes of Interstate 385 near Laurens County, South Carolina Trooper Joe Hovis said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

Hovis said four occupants involved in the accident died on the scene.

The only person who survived the impact was rushed to a hospital in Greenville before dying, according to the statement. Greenville is a city in South Carolina about 92 miles from Charlotte in North Carolina.

A vehicle described as a Kia from 2014 with two occupants collided head-on into a Hyundai with three people on board, according to Hovis. The driver of the Kia was reportedly heading the wrong way while traveling on the I-385 at the time of the accident.

Troopers had to cut the metal from both vehicles to remove all passengers trapped in the wreckage.

Hovis said none of the people traveling in the Hyundai were wearing their seat belts, adding that the person who died in the hospital was traveling in the Hyundai. In the Kia, only the driver was wearing a seat belt.

Besides the people involved in the two-vehicle collision, no other injuries were reported. Details around why the driver of the Kia was traveling the wrong way are currently unclear.

The Laurens County Coroner’s Office said the identifies of the deceased will be made public after their families have been notified, according to the Charlotte-Observer.

The latest deadly car accident reported in Laurens County was on Nov. 12, the outlet reported, citing the Department of Public Safety. That person was also not wearing a seat belt.

South Carolina Highway Patrol officials said the accident remains under investigation.