Brothers die in road crashes just minutes apart

Two brothers died in car crashes about 15 minutes and several miles apart in the US state of Kentucky.

Rory McDowell, 23, lost control of his pick-up truck coming out of a curve and the vehicle struck a tree, authorities said.

About 15 minutes later, 21-year-old Cory McDowell’s car veered off another rural road, went into a spin, struck a tree and burst into flames, authorities said.

Both crashes happened within a couple of miles from the home the men shared with their father in southern Kentucky’s rural Warren County.

The men’s father, sheriff’s deputy Andy McDowell, was initially notified of Rory’s crash. As he was being taken to that scene, he passed by the wreckage of Cory’s car, not knowing until later that his other son had been killed there.

“You take the most unimaginable hell that a parent could be told and double that,” Warren County Deputy Coroner Dwayne Lawrence said.

The father told authorities he had been talking with Rory McDowell on a mobile phone about the time of the crash, sheriff’s Capt. Brent Brown said. He said that might have been a factor in the crash, as well as excessive speed on a narrow road. He had no further details.

Both crashes remained under investigation, police said.