An early morning accident leaves a man dead and an Eastern Kentucky highway closed for most of the day.
It happened around 9 am on highway 15 in Letcher County, near Whitesburg... when police say a car veered into the path of a coal truck.

Police say the head-on collision killed 72 year old Troy Ashley of Sassafras. The coal truck skidded several hundred feet after the collision and overturned on an embankment, bursting into flames. Police say Christopher Cook was driving the coal truck and escaped from the fire.

"The road is wet. And they don't stop like a passenger car does." says Kentucky State Police PIO Tony Watts. "It takes a lot longer area for a tractor trailer to stop and when something that sudden happens, this individual had no place to go."

Cook was treated for minor injuries at the Whitesburg hospital and released. Police say Highway 15 could be slick throughout the evening due to oil and fuel spilled at the accident scene.