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1 dead, 1 injured after truck swerves off road

From staff reports

A Conway man was killed and an Aynor man was injured when the truck they were riding in went off the road and struck several trees about 6:15 p.m. Saturday, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol.

Horry County coroner Robert Edge said Patrick Luther Johnson, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash at 7:45 p.m. by deputy coroner Charles Sindler. Edge said Johnson died of internal injuries.

Also injured was 49-year-old Ronnie Smith of Aynor, S.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Paul Brouthers said. Smith was transported to the Conway Medical Center emergency room and late Saturday was about to be moved to McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, Brouthers said.

Johnson, the driver, and Smith were heading northbound on Enoch Road, which has a 55-mile-per-hour speed limit, and passed another vehicle, then drove off the left side of the road and overcorrected, veered back onto the roadway, then back off the left side of the road again, the Highway Patrol reports.

Brouthers said the truck struck several trees before coming to a rest. He said neither occupant was wearing a seat belt. Brouthers said speed was a factor in the wreck, which happened about five miles north of Conway.

The S.C. Highway Patrol continues to investigate the crash.

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