SPENCER — Two people were airlifted after a wreck Thursday at the intersection of Long Ferry Road and North Long Street.
Authorities said a Mercedes appeared to lose control at the intersection and barreled into the side of a stopped Ford van, leaving a person pinned inside one of the vehicles.
“Witnesses say at a high rate of speed,” Spencer Police Detec. N.W. Pacilio said of the Mercedes. “I haven’t estimated the speed yet. Lost control at some point. They hit side-to-side.”
Both vehicles had heavy damage to the drivers’ sides. The impact pushed the van into a utility pole, which snapped.
Natasha Whiteous, a neighbor, saw the aftermath through a side window.
“It sounded like a transformer exploded,” she said.
The Mercedes, Whiteous said, had been in the area several times Thursday.
Pacilio said a man was driving the Mercedes and a woman was driving the van. No one else was in either vehicle.
The extent of their injuries was not immediately available, nor were their identities. One was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem and the other to Carolinas Medical Center, according to the officer.
As tow crews worked to yank the mangled mess of metal, plastic and shattered glass onto the backs of flat-bed trucks, emergency workers swept up the remaining pieces.
One helicopter was called to nearby Millers Ferry Fire Department while another was sent to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center.

Contact reporter Nathan Hardin at 704-797-4246.