A high-speed crash on Hermitage Road in Devonshire yesterday left two men seriously injured after the car they were travelling in collided head-on with a water truck.

Last night Police Media spokesman Robin Simmons said a 39-year-old Pembroke man and a 36-year-old Devonshire man were both in the Intensive Care Unit of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

?Both vehicles were extensively damaged and both men (in the car) needed to be removed from their vehicle by Fire Service Personnel,? Mr. Simmons said.

Hermitage Road also had to be blocked off to traffic while the trapped men were being cut free.

Water truck driver Norris C.R. Burgess Jr. said his rig was completely destroyed by the force of the impact.

?I was in the truck by the pump on Hermitage Road,? Mr. Burgess said. ?I gathered there was no water to pump. That was when I started coming by Cable & Wireless instead to get fresh water.

?As I was coming across the pump, I saw some trucks parked along the side of the road waiting to get water. I drove across them and as I just started to drive across I saw a vehicle driving at excessive speed on my side of the road coming towards me,? he said.

He said he thought it was just someone kidding around at first, but the car kept coming towards him fast.

?I leaned on the horn and it didn?t turn away. They kept coming towards me on my side of the road. As they got excessively close, I could see the driver of the other vehicle. His head was hanging down by the steering wheel like he was asleep,? he said.

When he saw the driver did not appear to be aware of what was happening, he said he kept his hand on the horn, turned his head and braced for impact.

He said the car was travelling at 35 mph and when it hit. ?The whole truck spun around,? he said.

?As I got out of the truck I saw they were badly injured.?

Mr. Burgess credited his seatbelt with saving his life.

?Thank God they passed that (seatbelt) law,? he said. ?I didn?t usually wear one. But since I have been putting it on, I have been very responsible in wearing it.

?If I did not have it on? My God ? I don?t think I would be talking to you right now.?

In another frightening accident on the weekend, the wheel of a heavy tractor trailer flew off and struck and damaged the front ends of two cars driving behind it on Saturday, but no one was hurt.

Police said the damage-only accident occurred at 11.15 a.m. ?The tractor trailer was travelling west on South Shore Road in Paget, near the junction with Lover?s Lane, when its wheel came off and collided with both cars,? Police said. ?Both cars were damaged ? no one was injured.

And two hours earlier that morning, on North Shore Road in Pembroke, a Police car was involved in a crash in front of the First Church of God. No one was injured however.

Police said they ?received a report of a damage only road traffic collision involving a Police vehicle at 8.50 a.m. on Saturday? but no further information was available last night.