One Columbus man has died and another is in a hospital in Memphis after their car veered off Highway 69 and into a tree Sunday morning.
Ethan Persons, 21, of Columbus, was pronounced dead at the scene of a single-car wreck in southern Lowndes County, according to Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant.
Authorities with Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and Mississippi Highway Patrol responded to a call about the accident just after 6 a.m. after a deputy on his way home from work came across the wreck. Merchant pronounced Persons dead at the scene.
Also in the vehicle was 22-year-old Justin Eugene Loyd of Columbus, who was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle and later airlifted to a Memphis hospital.
The vehicle, a 2012 black Ford Mustang, appeared to have been heading south on Highway 69 when, just north of Concord Road, it veered off the road and into the woods, hitting multiple trees before coming to a stop. Both occupants were ejected from the vehicle, according to a MHP press release.
MHP is still investigating the accident.
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