Two injured after tanker truck, car collide near Carthage

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol said the Camry's driver, Chelsea Bosworth, was northbound on U.S. Highway 15/501 near Irene Lane when she sideswiped a dump truck headed south.

Bosworth, 22, of Carthage, then swerved back into the northbound lane but overcorrected, crossed the center line and hit the 18-wheeler, authorities said.

The drivers' injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

Melissa Chapman was sitting in her home drinking coffee, she said, when she heard a big bang and walked outside to see the truck flipped over in a ditch and the car badly damaged.

"She was lying in the car and couldn’t speak, and the gentleman was lying in the yard kind of out of it," Chapman said. "I think he was in shock."

Emergency workers took the tanker truck driver, Cecil Birgman, 29, of Sanford, to FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, while Bosworth was airlifted to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.

Authorities haven't said what led Bosworth to cross into the southbound lane.

Troopers, however say the highway can be dangerous with the number of big rigs and log trucks that travel the route.

Charges had not been filed as of Thursday afternoon.

U.S. 15/501 was closed in both directions for nearly seven hours while authorities investigated the crash and crews removed the vehicles from the scene.