SCOTLAND NECK – Two Northampton County men died in a head-on collision with a tractor trailer outside Scotland Neck Wednesday morning.

Sergeant R.E. Dudley of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said a 2004 Nissan Altima driven by Jeremy Taylor, 23, of Woodland, was traveling north on U.S. 258 nearly a mile outside of Scotland Neck when the crash occurred shortly before 4:45 a.m.

Traveling with Taylor was Tracy Demetrious Mabine, 24, of Potecasi, and Anthony Daniel Frazier, of Woodland, who was a backseat passenger.

The car drifted left of the center line and collided head-on with a 2006 Kenworth hauling soybeans, which was driven by John Brown, 65, of Conway.

Both vehicles were traveling about 45 miles per hour when the collision occurred. Taylor and Mabine, the right front passenger, were dead at the scene, according to Dudley.

Frazier was airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville. There, a hospital spokesperson said on Friday that his condition is listed as critical.

The truck driver is OK.

Dudley said it has not been determined why the driver crossed the center line and it is unknown whether alcohol was involved. The medical examiner will perform a toxicology screen.

The men in the car were returning from a trip to Rocky Mount.

(This story was submitted by Lance Martin, Publisher and Editor of rrspin.com.)