FOUR DIE IN HEAD-ON CRASH NEAR SIKESTON

SIKESTON -- Four people were killed and another injured Saturday night in a head-on collision in the Bootheel.

The drivers of two cars and a passenger in each were killed at 9:30 p.m. Saturday on a New Madrid County road near Sikeston, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

The driver of one car, Mack A. Dodd, and a passenger, Barbara Dodd, both 42, of Sikeston, died when their car crossed the center line and struck another car head-on, the patrol said.

The driver of the other car, Donald Brown, 19, and a passenger, James Householder, 21, both of New Madrid, also were killed. A second passenger in Brown's car, Johnny Higgerson, 22, also of New Madrid, was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau with serious injuries, the patrol said.

A hospital spokesman said Higgerson was in serious condition Sunday night. None of the victims were wearing seat belts.

The accident occurred on New Madrid County Route AA, about three miles south of Miner.

Saturday's four-fatality accident is the second of the year in Southeast Missouri. Four members of a Dudley family were killed June 26 when their car was struck head-on by a pickup truck near Advance.

A head-on collision last year on Highway 67 north of Poplar Bluff claimed seven lives and was the area's worst accident in years.

The patrol said Saturday's deaths bring the total highway fatalities in the Southeast Missouri Troop E area to 69, five less than were recorded at this time last year. The figures don't include "in-town" fatal accidents.