LAWRENCEBURG, Tenn. — Two Lawrenceburg men were killed and a woman is in a Nashville hospital after a one-car accident early Thursday just north of the city, officials said.

Lloyd Bentley, 28, and James B. Abbott, 32, both from Lawrenceburg, were killed in the crash that occurred at 12:25 a.m., according to Tennessee Highway Patrol officials.

Jennifer Branham, 33, also of Lawrenceburg, was injured and flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville for treatment. Hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Wetzel said Branham was in stable condition Thursday afternoon.

The wreck occurred just east of Lawrenceburg on Weakley Creek Road near the McCarter Road intersection, troopers said.

Officials said Abbott and Branham lived on Byrd Road, just south of the accident scene.

Bentley was reportedly driving a 2009 Nissan Altima and traveling east on Weakly Creek Road.

Troopers said the car ran off the west side of the road and it struck a tree. Reports indicate none of the three was wearing a seat belt and all were ejected from the car.

Emergency personnel at the scene said it appears the car slid sideways, slammed into the tree and flipped.

“It was a hard impact, so hard that it knocked the engine out of the car,” said Capt. Adam Brewer, with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office. He went to the scene to assist troopers.

Brewer said when he arrived at the scene, he knew immediately the outcome wasn’t going to be good.

“(The impact) was so severe it threw them in every direction,” Brewer said.

Officials said the crash threw Bentley, Abbott and Branham several yards from where the car ended up. They said Branham and Bentley were thrown across the road from where the impact occurred.

The crash was the second fatal accident in Lawrence County within a six-hour period. Just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, two Loretto High School students were involved in a two-car crash on Old Florence-Pulaski Road, north of Loretto. One of the girls was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was flown to Vanderbilt Hospital, where she died Thursday.

Tom Smith can be reached at 256-740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.