The driver of a pickup truck that collided Wednesday with a gospel band's tour bus has died, the Dawson County coroner has confirmed.

Meabon Sanner, 75, was driving on Ga. 400 when his truck was hit by a tour bus carrying a Southern Gospel musical group. The accident sent Sanner and another person on the bus to the hospital, shutting the highway down in North Georgia for about an hour.

Sanner was airlifted to North Fulton Regional Hospital, Dawson County Coroner Ted Bearden said. He was pronounced dead around 4 p.m., Bearden said.

Sanner lived in Gainesville.

The wreck occurred when Sanner was traveling southbound through Dawson County -- where Ga. 400 is a divided highway with traffic lights -- turned left across the northbound lane, Sheriff's Lt. Tony Wooten told the AJC.

The crash occurred at around 10:30 a.m. and Sanner was driving a Tacoma, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

The bus was carrying the Dahlonega-based musician Karen Peck, the GSP said, adding that she was among four treated at the scene. Peck and her group New River were nominated for a 2009 Grammy for their album Ephesians One.

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Cuthbert is the county seat of Randolph County, one of 94 Georgia counties that registered more deaths than births in 2024. The county's hospital closed in 2020, leaving longtime state Rep. Gerald Greene to drivce himself 46 miles to Albany while suffering from a kidney stone recently. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC