By BOB HIGH

A 28-year-old Mexican laborer was killed early Saturday between Fair Bluff and Tabor City when his 1998 GMC sports utility vehicle crashed and burned, according to a Highway Patrol report.

Pablo Mondragon Munoz of Cherry Grove Road, Cerro Gordo, died at the scene of the 4:40 a.m. crash at the intersection of the Sidney-Cherry Grove and Gapway Church roads, reports Highway Patrol Trooper John Lewis.

Columbus County Coroner Linwood Cartrette said the cause of Munoz’ death – the 10th highway fatality of 2006 in the county – would not be known until he learns the results of an autopsy conducted at the State Medical Examiner’s facility in Chapel Hill.

Lewis said the man’s body was found lying face up on the pavement of Gapway Church Road along the right side of his vehicle with his feet near the left front wheel. It’s not clear how Munoz got out of the SUV that was destroyed in the fire.

Munoz, who had been seen late Friday night in Tabor City by a member of his family, was driving west on the Sidney-Cherry Grove Road and drove off the left side of the road at 65 mph, the trooper noted.

The SUV’s left front slammed into the side of the ditch just east of the Gapway Church Road and went down the ditch where the right front of the vehicle hit a concrete culvert. The impact caused the vehicle to go into the air and land on the Gapway Church Road.

The vehicle caught fire and completely burned. There was no glass remaining in any of the SUV windows and all four tires burned.

Cartrette said Munoz was also burned, but it is not known if he was dead from crash injuries before flames reached his body. The Fair Bluff and Tabor City volunteer fire departments responded to the scene.

The 10th fatality this year matches the number of county road deaths in 2005 at the end of July. There were 17 highway fatalities last year.