Emergency workers attempt to secure one of the trucks involved in Thursday’s wreck on U.S. 61 North that killed three people. At left are members of the Mississippi Highway Patrol Motorcycle Unit, who were in the area conducting a training exercise when the wreck occurred.(Meredith Spencer The Vicksburg Post)

[7/16/04]The three people killed in Thursday morning’s head-on collision on U.S. 61 North have been identified as a Leland woman, a Missouri woman and a Louisiana man.

Separately, investigators found one of the two drivers apparently fell asleep at the wheel, causing the wreck at about 9.

Vonna Gammill, 56, of Leland, and her passenger, Kay Lambeth, 66, of Fairplay, Mo., were killed after the Ford truck Gammill was driving was struck by another Ford truck, said Trooper Wayne Smith with the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

The second Ford, headed north and hauling a flatbed trailer, was driven by Andrew Oglesby, 22, of Baton Rouge.

“Mr. Oglesby swerved into the southbound lane and hit Ms. Gammill’s truck head on,” said Staff Sgt. Ray Steed, an accident reconstructionist for the Mississippi Highway Patrol. “That is reinstated by an eye witness who saw the accident.

“The witness said it looked like Mr. Oglesby fell asleep, and he was coming from Baton Rouge, so he was about four hours into his drive.”

All three were pronounced dead at the scene, and Smith said the families of the women and man had been notified.

The wreck, reported at 9:05 a.m., was about five miles north of the Warren County line on a straight stretch of the two-lane highway.

Law enforcement officials and emergency workers from Issaquena, Sharkey and Warren counties were on the scene, which slowed traffic on the highway for about two hours.