Tragedy as father and son die in head-on crash with each other

Tragedy struck in Fayette County, Alabama last Saturday as a father and his son were killed after they crashed into each other head-on in separate vehicles.

It is understood that the father, Jeffrey Morris Brasher, and his son, Austin Blaine Brasher, died in the early hours of Saturday, February 18, 2017.

While Jeffrey died at the scene, Austin died a few hours later after being rushed to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.

According to local police, Jeffrey, who was driving a 2006 Ford pickup, was killed instantly around 4 a.m. when his vehicle collided with a 2004 Chevrolet truck his son Austin was driving on a highway.

While it remains unclear who was at fault, Alabama state troopers revealed that alcohol is a factor in the crash that killed the duo, who both lived in Bankston, about 67 miles west of Birmingham.

The father, a bread distributor, was driving to work while his son was wrapping up a night of partying, PEOPLE reports.

Relatives told the magazine that the father and son were very close.

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking,” said Monica Marie Aker, one of Austin’s cousins. “To know that they collided head-on is one of the hardest things to comprehend.”

“My worst fear was that Austin would make it through and then kill himself because he wouldn’t have been able to deal with killing his father,” she added. “It would have destroyed him.”

Details on the accident remain sketchy, however, the Alabama Highway Patrol further revealed that neither Jeffrey Brasher nor Austin Brasher were wearing a seat belt before the crash.

“It’s an unexpected, unbelievable tragedy,” Pam Dennis, the elder Brasher’s sister, told AL.com. “There’s no explanation for something so random.”

Meanwhile, troopers have continued to investigate the cause of the crash.