LAUREL — Two separate rollover accidents left one person dead and three injured during the Labor Day weekend.

According to Lance Chancellor, public information officer for the Jones County Fire Council, a one-vehicle rollover accident at about 11:11 a.m. Sunday left an adult female dead and an adult male injured.

The Ford F150 pickup driven by the female victim left the road on Soso-Big Creek Road and struck a utility pole. The female was trapped in the vehicle, while the male victim was ejected from the vehicle and landed in a wooded area.

 “It took us 40 minutes to do the extrication of the female victim,” said Jones County Fire Coordinator Dan McKenna, who served as incident commander. “In this situation, there was so much extreme damage to the vehicle. The utility pole had come right across the roof of the truck and pushed the roof all the way down to near the floor of the truck.

“The force of the accident wrapped the vehicle around the pole and the truck was in sort of a V-shape,”  explained McKenna. “The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Shaunita  Weathersby, public information director of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department, said the deceased female was identified as 31-year-old Tonya West of Seminary. The male was identified as Jones County resident Steven Hancock. His age is unknown.

The cause of the accident is under investigation. It is believed the accident was the result of a domestic issue between the victims.

McKenna said volunteer firefighters used hydraulic rescue tools, a winch cable from Calhoun Rescue 1 and two tow trucks with winch cables from Holifield Wrecker Service to free West from the mangled vehicle. Hancock was transported by EMServ Ambulance Service to South Central Regional Medical Center with undisclosed injuries.

Although it was a horrific accident, McKenna said the volunteer firefighters came through as usual.

“It was pretty bad out there,” McKenna said. “Usually you see this type of accident on the interstate where you get a high speed crash.

“With that much damage to the vehicle and the way it was wrapped around the pole, it appeared that they must have had some speed.”

Volunteer fire and rescue units from Soso, Calhoun, Hebron and Pleasant Ridge responded to the accident scene and reported live power lines down blocking the roadway, as well as gasoline leaking from the pickup. Also, multiple units from the Jones County Sheriff's Department, along with Jones County District Attorney's Office Investigator Wayne Black, Jones County Fire Chaplain Drew Blanton, the Jones County Coroner’s Office and Dixie Electric Power Association responded to the scene.

Soso Big Creek Road was closed for over three hours as victim recovery, accident investigation, vehicle recovery and restoration of electrical power service to the area was conducted.

Dixie Electric Spokesperson Lydia Walters said about 300 customers in the Big Creek area lost power as a result of Sunday’s accident. Power was restored to all customers at about 3:35 p.m.

The second one vehicle rollover accident occurred Sunday night on Interstate 59  near Exit 76 for the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport. This accident left two adult males injured.  

“Moselle Volunteer Fire & Rescue responded to the incident and reported a Ford Windstar van had left the interstate, traversed into the median and rolled several times,” said Chancellor. “One adult male was discovered at the scene, but a second adult male had fled the scene on foot.”

 Units from the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) and the Jones County Sheriff's Department were on the scene when reports were received that the second victim was spotted running on foot at the airport.  Jones County deputies responded to the airport, took the individual into custody, and returned him to MHP Troopers who were working the accident scene.  

“The first accident victim was transported by EMServ Ambulance Service to Forrest General Hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries, while a second EMServ unit responded for the second victim,” said Chancellor. His condition and details on his possible transport to the hospital was unavailable.

 One lane of Interstate 59 North was closed to traffic for a brief period as rescue, accident investigation and vehicle recovery operations were conducted. Moselle Rescue 1, Engine 1 and Tanker 1 responded to the scene along with Union VFD firefighters under the command of Moselle Fire Chief B.J. Robinson.

Attempts to reach MHP Spokesman Todd Miller for more information were not returned by press time.