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The N.C. Highway Patrol is still working at midday to contact the relatives of the two people who died late Tuesday night in a wrong-way fiery collision on U.S. 74 near Monroe.
The head-on wreck happened shortly before 11 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of the highway, near Brickyard Road, a short distance west of the city.
Troopers say a Ford Explorer was westbound in the eastbound lane when it crashed into a Ford Expedition. Both vehicles caught fire, and the victims died at the scene. Troopers told NewsChannel 36, the Observer's news partner, that a witness tried to pull the victims from the vehicles but was pushed back by the intense heat.
Authorities originally said three people were killed, but they said this morning that two people were in the vehicles.
The Highway Patrol says it plans to release additional details of the wreck later today, and it is not known if alcohol was involved. But troopers told NewsChannel 36 that the driver of the Ford Explorer never hit the brakes before the crash.
Troopers closed both sides of U.S. 74 for a short time and had the eastbound lanes closed for several hours. Despite the late hour, traffic was backed up for miles.
The fire was intense, destroying both vehicles, burning nearby trees.
NewsChannel 36 contributed.
