Two men died Sunday after a car ran off Interstate 26 in Orangeburg County, according to Lance Cpl. Scot Edgeworth of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

The men were passengers in a four-door 2001 Saturn driven by C.J. Holmes, 21, of North Charleston.

The car was eastbound on I-26 at mile 141 when it ran off the left side of the highway. When the driver overcorrected, the vehicle crossed the highway, went off the right side and collided with some trees, Edgeworth said.

A front-seat passenger, whom Edgeworth described only as a black male wearing a seat belt, perished, as did a passenger in the left rear seat, described only as a black male who was not wearing a seat belt.

Orangeburg County EMS took Holmes to the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, Edgeworth said.

A fourth occupant of the car, whom Edgeworth described only as a black male who sat in the right rear, was airlifted by medical helicopter to Palmetto Health-Richland in Columbia.

Orangeburg County Coroner Samuetta Marshall, who is authorized to release the identities of the deceased men, did not return a message left with her answering service Sunday afternoon.

The eastbound lanes of I-26 were blocked for about an hour, Edgeworth said. The weather was clear at the time of the wreck, he added.

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