• A Whiteville man became the county’s 24th fatality this year Sunday night in a violent head-on crash on N.C. 130 near the Pleasant Plains Baptist Church. Two other victims – both with critical injuries – were airlifted to Chapel Hill.

By BOB HIGH

A violent head-on crash of an SUV and a small pickup truck on N.C. 130 three miles south of Brunswick Sunday at 7:24 p.m. killed one driver and sent the second driver and his 6-year-old passenger to a Chapel Hill hospital suffering critical injuries.

Willis W. Mahoney, 45, of Golf Course Road, Whiteville, became Columbus County’s 24th highway fatality this year – all of them on rural roads – as the vehicles slammed together in the northwest-bound lane, according to Highway Patrol Trooper Ronald Hester.

Columbus County Coroner Linwood Cartrette said Mahoney, pinned for about 30 minutes in his overturned Chevrolet SUV, died at the scene from multiple injuries.

Zenaido Sanchez Libreros, 29, of Radio Station Road, Whiteville, was the driver of the pickup truck, and his 6-year-old daughter, Yarima, was riding with her father.

Libreros was also pinned in the wreckage as the left front and center of the pickup were crushed. The driver’s door was driven all the way back to almost the rear of the cab by the force of the impact.

Hester noted the SUV was moving at 55 mph when for some unknown reason Mahoney moved across the centerline and hit Libreros’ vehicle, which was moving at 50 mph.

The SUV overturned and landed in the northwest-bound lane, and the pickup was pushed into the ditch by the force of the crash. Mahoney’s vehicle moved 26 feet after impact, and the pickup moved 43 feet after the wreck.

Traffic on N.C. 130 was blocked for almost 90 minutes and vehicles were diverted to Pleasant Plains Church Road to the southeast and to Harrelsonville Road to the northwest to bypass the scene.