FOUR DIE IN ACCIDENTS NEAR HAYTI

HAYTI -- Four people were killed in two separate accidents near Hayti Thursday night and Friday afternoon.

The first accident occurred at 9:45 p.m. Thursday on U.S. 412 eight miles west of Hayti.

Killed was Bruce Parkinson, 42, of Caruthersville.

Sustaining serious injuries were Ronnie McThomas, 29, of Hayti and his passenger, Georgetta Wells, 42, also of Hayti. They were taken to Pemiscot County Memorial Hospital in Hayti.

A spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol said both vehicles were traveling eastbound when McThomas attempted to pass Parkinson. The right side of McThomas' vehicle struck Parkinson's vehicle in the left front before both skidded off the right side of the roadway, the spokesman said.

McThomas' vehicle skidded through a ditch, struck a brick abutment, became airborne and struck a second abutment, throwing both the driver and passenger from the vehicle.

Parkinson's vehicle also skidded through a ditch and became airborne, throwing him out of the vehicle when it hit the ground.

None of the three people involved was wearing a seat belt.

The other accident occurred at 2:30 p.m. Friday and involved a head-on collision between a tractor-trailer truck and a car on Interstate 55, five miles south of Hayti.

Killed were the driver of the car, Rufus Boyd, 68, of Chicago, and passengers Charles Arnold, 84, and his wife, Aseline Arnold, 76, both of Chicago. They were dead at the scene and were taken to the Pemiscot County morgue.

A third passenger, Ruth Boyd, 67, of Chicago was taken to Pemiscot County Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries.

The driver of the tractor-trailer truck, Richard Cordray, 57, of Olive Branch, Miss., was taken to the same hospital with minor injuries.

A spokesman for the highway patrol said Boyd lost control of his southbound car, which crossed the median and struck the northbound tractor-trailer truck head-on before catching fire. Both passengers in the rear seat, the Arnolds, were thrown from the car.

The accident shut down traffic on the interstate highway for hours.