AULANDER – A Bertie County man lost his life in a traffic accident here Monday afternoon.

According to North Carolina Highway Patrol First Sergeant K.P. Pitts, George Earl Pierce, 61, of Charles Taylor Road, was killed when his 1988 pickup truck collided with a five-axle dump truck.

Pierce was traveling south on N.C. 305 at approximately 12:36 p.m. Monday. At the same time, a dump truck operated by Lucy Larue, 35 of Windsor, was traveling north on the same road.

Pitts said the investigation conducted by Trooper J.V. Reid concluded that Larue’s vehicle ran off the right hand side of the road and onto the shoulder. Larue apparently over-corrected and the vehicle began to overturn.

As the vehicle overturned, the truck operated by Pierce ran into the back part of the dump truck and went off the left hand side of the road and into a field.

The vehicle operated by Larue continued overturning and came to a rest upside down in a ditch.

Pierce was pronounced dead at the scene while Larue was airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital by East Care.

Pitts said charges in the incident were pending.

The fatality was the second one this year in the highway patrol district covering Bertie, Gates and Hertford counties. It was the first one in Bertie County in 2007.