The Community Times Dispatch

A head on motor vehicle collision on Highway 17-A near Sullivan’s Landing left two seriously injured and a Summerville man dead.

According to Lance Corporal Sonny Collins, South Carolina Highway Patrol, on February 8^th, a two vehicle collision resulted in one fatality, two miles north of Cottageville, South Carolina. His report indicates that a 2005 Ford 4-door, driven by Katherine Belson, 66, collided head-on with a 1995 Mercury 4-door, driven by Mary Beck-Ackerman, 71. Both drivers were flown to the Medical University of South Carolina for treatment of their injuries.

According to Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey, Larry Belson, 70, of Summerville, South Carolina, a passenger in the Ford 4-door, died of multiple trauma. He suffered cardiac arrest as medical helicopter was transporting him to the Medical University of South Carolina.

Colleton County Fire-Rescue responded to the wreckage and reported both vehicles having recieved heavy damage in the collision.

The female driver of the Grand Marquis was trapped in her overturned vehicle. The second vehicle was a Ford Taurus that caught fire following the impact. Bystanders pulled both occupants in the Ford Taurus to safety.

Cottageville Hwy was completely blocked due to the wreckage. Firefighter-Paramedics from Fire-Rescue Station 9 in Cottageville arrived in six minutes and began treating the injured. The fire was quickly extinguished, but destroyed most of the already damaged vehicle. Additional Fire-Rescue ambulances were requested as well as three medical helicopters.

Firefighters used hydraulic rescue tools to remove the roof on the over-turned vehicle to safely extricate the woman, while other firefighter-paramedics worked on the two other critical patients. A landing zone was established at the Cottageville Elementary School on Peirce Road approximately three miles from the accident scene.

Two Lifenet helicopters and the Gold Cross helicopter from Augusta, Georgia responded. Firefighters were on the scene for 1-1/2 hours until the accident was cleared. The SC Highway Patrol and MAIT Team is investigating the cause and no charges have been filed.