VIDALIA — An accident on U.S. 84 resulted in four hospitalizations, three wrecked cars and two dead horses Tuesday morning.

At 6:40 a.m., a blue 1993 Ford Ranger hit two horses walking on U.S. 84 East outside of Dodge’s Chicken Store.

A second car, a tan Chevrolet truck, then stopped to avoid hitting the first vehicle when a third small, white truck struck the tan Chevy, sending it across the highway into oncoming traffic, where it fell down an embankment on the opposite side of the street and struck a fence, Concordia Fire Chief Nolen Cothren said.

“(The second car) crossed into oncoming traffic, and how it avoided hitting anybody I’ll never know,” Cothren said.

Cothren said one passenger in the first car, two passengers in the second car and one passenger in the third car were transported to Natchez Regional Medical Center for treatment.

Cothren said none of the injuries were critical, and he said the worst injury was a split-open knee suffered by the driver of the third car.

No one involved was cited for a violation, according to Louisiana State Police officials, who responded to the accident.

Cothren said he did not know who the horses belonged to, but that they died on the scene and were taken away in the back of a trailer, where they were placed with a forklift.

“They had no saddle, they were just standing on highway,” Cothren said.

He said he can remember three other instances in the past 10 years involving cars hitting horses.

Cothren said the first car was probably caught off guard by the horses stopped on the highway and may have been blinded by the early morning light.

“The sun is so bad when coming east in morning, and you can’t see,” Cothren said.