Three sisters have died in a horrific head-on collision in North Carolina after a vehicle rammed them just a day before one of their birthdays, police said.
Viola Medlin Singletary, 74, Gloria Medlin McCrimmon, 72, and Cheryl Elaine Medlin, 63, were on Highway 690 in Moore County on Wednesday when a 2023 Kia crossed the center line and slammed into their vehicle , State Highway Patrol officials said.
The fatal accident completely destroyed the silver 2010 Hyundai the sisters were driving in, killing them and the driver of the Kia. The youngest of the sisters would have celebrated her 64th birthday on Thursday.
Kia passenger and sole survivor Suzanne Beasley was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries, WRAL reported.
Police say the crash happened around 10.59am, when the as-yet-unidentified driver of the Kia came speeding around a bend and collided with the sisters’ vehicle, which Singletary was driving.
Relatives said they were picking up a truck as the family prepared for Medlin’s 63rd birthday on Thursday. The family will hold a balloon release in his honor.
Beasley’s cousin Wayne Davis said he was on the road when he witnessed the brutal crash and rushed to help, only to find his cousin involved in the fatal wreckage.
“I hadn’t seen my cousin in eight years and there was blood around her face,” Davis told WRAL. “I couldn’t recognize that it was my cousin.”
Davis said the crash left the Hyundai spinning out of control toward its own car, with engine parts being “thrown on my work truck as I drove down Highway 690.”
The force of the collision was so great that the engines of both cars were ripped out.
The State Highway Patrol said the investigation is still ongoing, but a preliminary investigation showed excessive speed and reckless driving on the part of the Kia led to the crash.
