Two motorists were flown to hospitals in the Indianapolis area after they were injured in a crash Monday morning east of Seymour.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Carothers said the driver of a pickup, Charles Mullikin III, 27, of North Vernon, sustained severe head injuries in the wreck, which occurred on County Road 700N about three-quarters of a mile east of U.S. 31.

“He was unresponsive but was breathing when I got there,” said Carothers, who was first on the scene of the wreck reported at 6:47 a.m.

The impact knocked the cab of the Toyota Tacoma off of the frame, but the driver had to be cut from the pickup by firefighters from Seymour and Redding Township fire departments, police said.

“We could only get to him to keep him ventilated,” Carothers said.

He said two people were in a 2011 Ford Fusion involved in the wreck, but both were out of the car when he arrived.

The driver of that car, Duwayne Wright, 30, of Paris Crossing, sustained a severe leg injury, while the passenger, James Smith, 30, of Seymour, had a head injury, said Lt. Darin Downs with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

Two helicopters were called to the scene and landed near the crash site to take both drivers to regional hospitals, Downs said.

All three men were treated at the scene by Jackson County Emergency Medical Services personnel, and Smith was taken to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour for treatment.

Downs said the cause of the wreck remains under investigation. Mullikin was driving east, while Wright was driving west at the time the wreck occurred.

County Road 700N was closed for more than an hour for the initial investigation and cleanup of the wreck, Downs said, and he went back later in the morning for additional investigation.