In a tragic repeat of roadway sorrow, two separate highway crashes occurred within hours of each other on US Hwy 183 in Texas, leaving one person dead and another critically injured. The first accident, as reported by KXAN, happened near Austin in the Pilot Knob area. Officials say the collision took place around 2:40 a.m. Monday and involved two vehicles.

The severity of the incident forced a lockdown of the highway in both directions at FM 812, causing early commuters to have to find alternate routes for several hours. Emergency personnel worked to quickly extricate one of the victims who was pinned in the wreckage, but despite their efforts, one individual was pronounced dead at the scene. The surviving victim, after being freed, was treated as a trauma alert by medics and was immediately transported to a local hospital with serious, potentially life-threatening injuries.

Just a short time later, an almost identical mishap unfolded on the same highway stretch in Lampasas County. In this second disaster, recounted by KVUE, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services attended to the situation rapidly after 3 a.m. Officials have not released much information, but have confirmed that one person has lost their life while another sustained severe injuries.

According to the initial reports, the injured individual was rushed to Dell Seton Medical Center under the threat of life-threatening conditions. As of this writing, no further details about the identities of those involved or the cause of either crash were divulged. As the community reckons with the grim reality of these events, investigations to uncover how such tragedies came to pass on Hwy 183 are underway. Meanwhile, these roads have witnessed enough loss to remind us—drivers are urged to always exercise caution.