MOUNT AIRY, Louisiana — Two women, both 75 years old, were killed shortly before noon on Friday, November 6, when their car crossed the centre line of Louisiana Highway 44 — River Road — near Marigold Street and struck a box truck head-on, Louisiana State Police Troop B said.
Source: Louisiana State Police Troop B release, Nov 6-7, 2026
The crash happened in St. John the Baptist Parish, on the River Road stretch near Marigold Street in the Mount Airy area, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Troopers with State Police Troop B began investigating shortly before 12 p.m. on Friday. The two women who died were the driver and passenger of the car: one was from Vacherie and the other from Garyville, two River Parishes communities a short drive from the crash scene. State Police did not release their names in the release.
On the preliminary investigation, the car — a 2011 Toyota Corolla — was travelling westbound on LA 44. At the same time, a 2023 Freightliner box truck was travelling eastbound on LA 44, approaching Marigold Street. For reasons that remain under investigation, the Corolla crossed the centre line into the eastbound lane and struck the box truck head-on, troopers said.
Both women died at the scene; the truck driver survived
Both occupants of the Corolla were properly restrained, sustained fatal injuries and were pronounced deceased at the scene, State Police said. The driver of the box truck, who was also restrained, sustained minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Television stations WWL-TV and WVUE in New Orleans reported the same central facts the same weekend: two women died in a head-on crash involving a box truck on River Road in St. John the Baptist Parish.
Source: WWL-TV and WVUE, New Orleans, Nov 7-8, 2026
Driver impairment is not believed to be a factor in the crash, State Police said. As part of the ongoing investigation, routine toxicology samples were collected for analysis — the standard step in a fatal Louisiana crash investigation, whose results form part of the final file rather than the first release. No charges have been announced, and troopers have not said what caused the Corolla to leave its lane: the release states only that the reason remains under investigation.
River Road: a working river highway, not a freeway
LA 44 is the River Road on this stretch — the two-lane highway that follows the Mississippi River through the River Parishes, carrying a daily mix that few other Louisiana roads match: local residents driving between small communities such as Vacherie, Garyville and Mount Airy, plant and industrial traffic, and commercial trucks, including box trucks serving the corridor. A two-lane road leaves no median and no margin when a vehicle crosses the centre line, which is why centre-line crossovers on roads like this one so often end head-on, and why troopers investigate them as among the most serious crashes on the state system.
St. John the Baptist Parish sits in the heart of that corridor. Its residents drive River Road for work, school and shopping, and its roads carry heavy through traffic between the New Orleans and Baton Rouge metro areas. For the families in Vacherie and Garyville, Friday's crash is not a distant highway statistic: both women were from communities on this same river road system, minutes from where they died.
Established by the Troop B release: the time, the place, the two vehicles, the centre-line crossing, both women's ages and home communities, that all three people were restrained, and that impairment is not believed to be a factor. Not established: the women's names, why the Corolla crossed the line, the box truck driver's name, and any charge or citation. Awaaz Punjab does not fill those gaps with guesses; if troopers release them, they will be reported then.
What happens next
The crash remains under investigation by Troop B, the State Police troop that covers this part of the river corridor; its public affairs contact for the release is Trooper Kyle Wagner. The remaining steps are the toxicology results, the completed crash reconstruction and the final report, which together will state the official finding on why the Corolla crossed into the eastbound lane. In their release, troopers repeated their standing safety message for this corridor — never drive impaired, fatigued or distracted — while noting that not all crashes are survivable even when drivers take precautions, as both women, properly restrained, were on Friday.