Delfino Perez Hernandez and Tomas Hernández Escudero
By Thomas Sherrill
The Franklin Press
A Thursday afternoon wreck on the east side of Winding Stair Gap killed two Hayesville men and hospitalized six others.
According to Trooper C.N. Barker with the N.C. State Highway Patrol, around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, a 26-foot box truck traveling east on U.S. 64/Murphy Road past the runaway truck ramp crossed over the center line. The box truck sideswiped a Toyota 4Runner traveling west, then collided head-on with a Jeep Grand Cherokee also traveling west.
The box truck overturned while the Toyota and Jeep rested on the shoulder. Citing the ongoing investigation, Barker declined to release further details about what caused the box truck to cross the center line.
The Jeep occupants, Tomas Hernandez Escudero, 57, and his nephew Delfino Perez Hernandez, 42, both of Hayesville, died at the scene.
Both occupants in the box truck and all four in the Toyota were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Barker said two of the injured Toyota occupants are young children.
West Macon Fire Chief Tony Randall said Franklin Fire and Rescue helped extricate the driver from the box truck and the deceased from the Jeep. Macon County EMS and Macon County Emergency Services also responded.
The Macon County chaplains went to the scene and rendered a blessing for all the victims involved, including the deceased before their bodies were removed from the vehicle, Randall said. The chaplains provided support and counseling on site and the next day.
The wreck closed Murphy Road for several hours. On the Franklin side, the Macon County Sheriff’s Office and later the N.C. Department of Transportation diverted westbound traffic to West Old Murphy Road for several hours.
Barker said the NCSHP collision reconstruction team is on-site this week.
Randall thanked all the agencies who responded to a difficult scene and the Macon County Chaplains for offering their counseling services to the first responders.
In Hayesville and Young Harris, Georgia, friends of the family through the Taqueria Los Atlantes restaurant are raising money to help repatriate the two men to be buried in Mexico.
Both men had been living in the United States for the past 15 years.
Hernandez was a mason worker who enjoyed soccer and music, but most of all talking with his family on the phone, according to his obituary. “He was a bit serious, but with a gentle spirit.”
Escudero was also a mason worker and enjoyed learning new skills, according to his obituary. He liked to fish and play basketball. “He worked hard to provide a better life for his wife and daughters.”
A funeral Mass will be held for both men at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 at Ivie Funeral Home, Hayesville. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 6-7 p.m.