Deals Gap – A multi-vehicle accident just inside the North Carolina line Saturday afternoon claimed one life.
First responders were unable to revive 51-year-old Darren Ege, after Ege went left of the center line and struck a vehicle head-on. The collision occurred around 4 p.m. on U.S. 129 South, just before Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort in Swain County, after Ege had completed a trip across the Tail of the Dragon.
It is unclear what caused Ege to cross the center line, but the Peru, Ind., resident directly collided with a Cadillac, operated by 63-year-old Rita Long from Denver, N.C. Ege was ejected from the motorcycle into the roadway, while the bike continued in the northbound lane until striking a truck being driven by Henry McCoy, 55, of Robbinsville.
Members of Graham County Emergency Medical Services, the Graham County Rescue Squad and N.C. Highway Patrol responded to the crash and attempted to obtain a Medevac (emergency air ambulance) helicopter for Ege, but a pending storm system caused the effort to prove unsuccessful.
Neither McCoy nor Long required transport to a medical facility.