BEATRICE - A head-on collision between a pickup and semitrailer truck has killed one person and seriously injured another, in north-central Kansas.

The collision happened early Wednesday morning in Republic County, on U.S. Highway 81….four-and-a-half miles north of Belleville, Kansas.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says the driver of a 2012 Ford F-150 pickup….20-year-old Xavier Robison, of Republic…died in the collision.   The driver of a 2024 International semitrailer truck…..34-year-old Shafi Rahman Lal Shahmir…of Austin, Texas, suffered serious injuries.

The KHP says the pickup…for an unknown reason…was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of U.S. 81, when it struck the northbound semitrailer truck head-on.

A passenger in the truck escaped injury.   The driver of the semitrailer truck was taken to the Republic County Hospital.

Patrol officers say the collision happened just before 5 a.m. Wednesday.  Authorities say the pickup driver was not using a safety restraint.