2 die in I-95 crash in Hardeeville

Two men were killed and three others injured in a crash Monday on Interstate 95 in Hardeeville, in which the truck the men were in flipped on the wet highway.

The five men were riding home from work and had just entered I-95 off U.S. 278 when the truck's driver lost control during a storm, Hardeeville interim police Chief Sam Woodward said. No information about where the men worked was available Tuesday.

The truck skidded off the road just past the exit at about 5 p.m. and flipped into the median, he said.

The men killed in the crash, 27-year-old Juventino Gonzalez Reyes and 22-year-old Omar Bustamante Juarez, were both Ridgeland residents, according to Allen Funeral Home, which is handling the men's funeral arrangements.

Reyes and Juarez were ejected from the truck's back seat and were not wearing seat belts, nor was a third man in the back seat, Woodward said.

Reyes died at the scene, and Juarez was pronounced dead in the operating room at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Jasper County Coroner Martin Sauls said. Both men suffered from massive trauma after they were thrown against pine trees after being ejected, Sauls said.

The three who were injured were taken to Memorial University Medical Center. Two have been released, and the third is in stable condition, Woodward said.

The Hardeeville Police Department responded to three other accidents caused by Monday's heavy storm -- two on the interstate, and one on U.S. 17. None of those three involved injuries, Woodward said.

Follow reporter Matt McNab at twitter.com/IPBG_Matt.

This story was originally published September 16, 2014 at 7:34 PM with the headline "2 die in I-95 crash in Hardeeville."