Authorities said a 48-year-old Midway man, who was employed as a trucker at Lyons Trucking in Richmond Hill, died after suffering an apparent heart attack Tuesday while traveling southbound on Hwy. 17.

The man, whose name was not released Tuesday, veered off the road right past the intersection of 17 and Clarktown, in front of Parker’s convenience store, busting a power line pole in half.

He died shortly after arriving at the hospital, according to BCSO Capt. Mike Maxwell.

The accident, which occurred around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, caused a temporary power outage for a portion of the county.

Bryan County EMS transported the driver to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah.

A Lyons employee said the driver was headed to the trucking company, which was a few hundred feet from the accident site. Maxwell said the driver’s father, a fellow trucker, was carrying a load right behind his when the accident occurred.

A Coastal EMC employee who was on the scene said power would be out for an undetermined amount of time for some residents from Daniel Siding Road to the Liberty line as the line was being repaired. He said parts of Waterford Landing would also experience outages due to the wreck. Comcast employees were at the site as well as the pole carried their power lines as well – lines that were laying on the ground immediately following the incident.

"This could’ve been a whole lot worse," Maxwell said. "If he would have veered left instead of right, he would’ve plowed head-on into oncoming traffic during rush hour."