By John Oxford

john.oxford@gaflnews.com



MOULTRIE — Two women on their way to work in Cairo were killed in a fiery two-vehicle accident in southwest Colquitt County Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The women, whose names had not been released as of Tuesday afternoon, were pronounced dead at the scene. The two were in a Chevrolet Blazer at the time of the collision.

Georgia State Patrol Trooper Bobby Underwood said the Blazer was on Lower Meigs Road and was attempting to cross through the Highway 202 intersection about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday. As it crossed, a semi truck, driven by Wayne Daniels, 54, of Doerun, was going through the intersection on Highway 202, and the two vehicles collided in the middle of the intersection.

Following the collision, Underwood said, both vehicles continued north on Highway 202, hitting two residential garbage cans but missing a mailbox. The Blazer came to rest on the southbound shoulder while the semi went over a shoulder embankment before crossing the road and coming to rest on the northbound shoulder.

The Blazer caught fire, and volunteer firefighters from the Hamilton and Funston volunteer fire departments arrived to extinguish it. 

Colquitt County Coroner Verlyn Brock said both women died of head trauma from the collision before the fire ignited.

“They never knew there was a fire,” Brock said. 

The two women were on Lower Meigs Road on their way to work in Cairo when the collision took place, Brock said. Their bodies were not visibly identifiable after the collision, he said. Their husbands came to Colquitt County from working fields in Plant City, Fla., he said.

A full report from the GSP was expected within the next few days as well as funeral information on the two women killed.

The women were the third and fourth people killed on Colquitt County roads within the last three weeks and the fourth and fifth people killed so far in 2009. 

Joe Harry Ball, 34, of Norman Park, died in a two-car crash Jan. 17 on Highway 319 North near Sumner Road.

Francisco Tapia Hernandez, 41, of Circle Road, was struck and killed as he walked along Circle Road Feb. 28, and Phyllis Sellers Orozco, of 706 Faison Road, was killed in a collision March 5 on Faison Road in Hartsfield.