Seven people – all in one vehicle – were killed in a fiery crash in southeastern North Carolina When the car tried to cross a two-lane road, it struck two other vehicles, the State Highway Patrol said Friday.
The crash happened around 6 p.m. Thursday on NC Highway 711 near Pembroke, which is about 56 miles northwest of Wilmington, according to troopers.
The patrol said its initial investigation found a vehicle containing the seven was traveling westbound when it crossed the center line and sideswiped another westbound vehicle.
The passing vehicle continued forward and struck an eastbound vehicle, then traveled off the road, stopped at the edge of a swamp and caught fire, a patrol crash summary said. Three of the occupants of the passing vehicle were also ejected.
The seven passengers were pronounced dead at the scene. The patrol said only one passenger had been identified but the name was being withheld pending family notification. Speed appears to be a contributing factor in the wreck, but weather has not been found to be a contributing factor, the patrol said.
The driver of the eastbound vehicle, identified as 25-year-old John Hinston Dial of Pembroke, was taken to the hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, troopers said. The westbound vehicle did not stop at the scene but it does not appear that the motorist contributed to the cause of the collision, according to the summary.
Troopers did not clarify what type of vehicle was carrying the seven passengers or whether the car was overloaded. Last month, nine people were killed and one seriously injured in Florida when an overloaded vehicle hit a guard rail and went up and down a canal. They were driving a 2023 Ford Explorer, which according to several websites has a seven-passenger capacity. The NTSB said it was opening an investigation into the Florida crash.