TRUCK DRIVER KILLED NEAR SIKESTON IN TRAILER-BUS ACCIDENT

SIKESTON, Mo. -- A truck driver was fatally injured Monday afternoon in a collision between a tractor-trailer truck and a bus south of the intersection of Interstate 55 and Interstate 57.

The driver's identity was not immediately known. A Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman said he did not know the extent of injuries on the bus.

The accident occurred about 4:30 p.m.

Accidents Sunday on roads in the region resulted in serious and moderate injuries.

Pamela Robinson, 45, of St. Louis was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau with serious injuries after a single-vehicle accident on Route B, a mile north of Friedheim, Mo. The accident occurred at 9:55 a.m.

According to the patrol, Robinson swerved across the center line to avoid an animal, lost control of the vehicle and ran off the west side of the road, striking an embankment and overturning.

John Pirtle, 35, of Brookland Center, Minn., sustained moderate injuries in a 1:40 p.m. accident on I-55 at Fruitland, Mo. He was taken to St. Francis Medical Center.

The driver of the other vehicle, Richard Catoe, 36, of Brownsville, Tenn., was not injured.

According to the patrol, the accident occurred as Pirtle was driving his vehicle southbound in the passing lane at excessive speed, lost control, crossed the median and overturned several times. Debris from his vehicle struck Catoe's vehicle, the patrol said.