The state Highway Patrol said Friday that seven people were killed in a fiery crash in southeastern North Carolina when a car tried to pass on a two-lane road and hit two other cars. All seven were in the same car.
Police say the accident happened on N.C. Highway 711 near Pembroke around 6 p.m. Thursday. Pembroke is about 90 miles (145 km) northwest of Wilmington.
According to the police, the first investigation found that the seven people were in a car going west when it crossed the center line and hit another car going west.
A patrol crash report said the passing car kept going and hit a car going east. It then went off the road and stopped at the edge of a swamp, where it caught fire. Three people from the passing car were also thrown out.
Seven people on board were declared dead at the scene. The patrol said they had only identified one person, but they wouldn’t say whose it was until the family was notified. The patrol said that speed seems to have played a part in the accident but that the weather has not been shown to have played a role.
Troopers said the driver of the car going east was taken to the hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries. The driver of the westbound car didn’t stay at the scene of the accident, but it doesn’t look like they were responsible for starting it, according to the report.