Crash victims identified

John Oxford

March 18, 2009 11:45 pm

— MOULTRIE — The two sisters killed in a fiery two-vehicle accident in southwest Colquitt County Tuesday morning were identified Wednesday.
Colquitt County Coroner Verlyn Brock said Juana Mezquital Severiano, 28, of 1417-A Overlook Drive, and Petra Mezquital Severiano, 36, of 127 McMullen Road, were killed in the collision. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Cobb Funeral Chapel sent their death notices to The Moultrie Observer Wednesday, but they stated only the women’s identities, that they died Tuesday and that Cobb Funeral Chapel would be handling their arrangements.
Georgia State Patrol Trooper Bobby Underwood said a 1987 Chevrolet Blazer, driven by Juana Severiano, was on Lower Meigs Road and was attempting to cross through the Highway 202 intersection about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday. As it crossed, a semi truck, driven by Wayne Daniels, 54, of Doerun, was going through the intersection on Highway 202, and the two vehicles collided in the middle of the intersection.
Following the collision, Underwood said, both vehicles continued north on Highway 202, hitting two residential garbage cans but missing a mailbox. The Blazer came to rest on the southbound shoulder while the semi went over a shoulder embankment before crossing the road and coming to rest on the northbound shoulder. It was reported Daniels and other passersby attempted to help get the two sisters out of the Blazer following the collision.
The Blazer caught on fire following the collision, and volunteer firefighters from the Hamilton and Funston volunteer fire departments extinguished it. Colquitt County sheriff’s deputies reported volunteer firefighters were attempting to extinguish the fire when they arrived on scene at 8:19 a.m.
Brock said both women died of head trauma from the collision and before the fire ignited.
“They never knew there was a fire,” Brock said.
A spokesperson at Colquitt Regional Medical Center said Daniels did not go to the hospital with injuries from the accident. No charges had been filed against Daniels related to the collision as of Wednesday afternoon, the GSP said.
The sisters were on their way to work in Cairo when the collision took place, Brock said. Their husbands provided positive identification after they arrived from Plant City, Fla.
There was a frantic search after evidence of a child was found inside the vehicle, but the 1-and-a-half-year-old girl was found safe with a baby-sitter.
A full report from the GSP had not been completed as of Wednesday afternoon but was expected within the next few days.