EATONTON, Ga. — A head-on collision in Putnam County Saturday afternoon injured 11 persons, two of whom were critically injured and had to be airlifted to area hospitals, authorities say.

Two of the adults and six children involved in the wreck were from Tifton.

One of the two vehicles involved in the crash caught fire.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said the drivers of the vehicles and their passengers, including several children, were from Tifton and Vero Beach, Fla. The youngest of the six children injured was 1.

Those injured were treated at the scene by firefighters/first responders with Putnam County Fire Rescue, as well as personnel with the Putnam County Emergency Medical Services. While nine of them were taken by ambulances to Putnam General Hospital in Eatonton and Navicent Health Medical Center in Macon, two were also flown by helicopter to the Macon trauma hospital.

The sheriff said he had received no report of anyone having died as of presstime Monday afternoon. 

The wreck happened shortly before 1 p.m. near Ga. Route 129 or the Gray Road and Joe Wooten Road intersection, about seven miles south of Eatonton, Sills said.

“The at-fault driver was northbound and was illegally passing,” Sills told The Union-Recorder. “There was no evidence of any drinking and driving or such, but there will be charges forthcoming.”

Sills identified the driver of that vehicle, a 2017 Dodge Durango, as Tiffany Childs, of Tjfton.

A front seat passenger in Childs’ SUV was identified as Megan Card, also of Tifton. The six children in the vehicle also were from Tifton.

The other vehicle involved in the head-on collision was a 2011 Cadillac SUV, driven by Andrew Williams, 65, of Vero Beach, Fla.

Two passengers in his vehicle also were injured. They included Marie Williams, 54; and Charmain Barbel, 49, also of Vero Beach, Fla., Sills said.

Andrew Williams was traveling west toward Gray when the collision happened.