GATES – A two-vehicle accident near here Thursday morning claimed the life of a Gates County woman and seriously injured her two young children.

The accident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on Gatlington Road (RP 1202), approximately 1.5 miles west of US 13.

There, according to a report filed by North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Williams, 27-year-old Brittney Champlin of Byrum Road, Gates, was killed. Her children, ages 1 and 3, were airlifted to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville due to seriousness of their injuries.

Champlin died at the accident scene, according to NCHP First Sgt. Rodney Sawyer.

The accident report revealed that a flatbed tractor-trailer, hauling logging mats, was sitting stationary in the road while the operator, Derrick Cross of Sunbury, was in the process of securing the mats on the trailer. The truck is owned by Andrew B. Byrum Trucking of Merry Hill.

Meanwhile, a 2005 Ford passenger car driven by Champlin was traveling west on Gatlington Road.

“The portion of the road where the accident occurred was a straightaway,” Sawyer said. “The driver of the passenger car failed to reduce speed and struck the rear of the parked tractor-trailer.”

He added that the accident remains under investigation.

The fatality was the fifth of 2018 in the NCHP’s Troop A / District II area (Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties). It was the first of the year in Gates County.