Updated at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday:

A 48-year-old San Antonio man was killed Sunday morning and a construction worker in his mid 30s was seriously injured just before noon Monday in separate accidents in the vicinity of the construction work underway south and west of Skidmore.

Also, a 58-year-old motorist died of a heart attack Monday morning in Beeville.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety authorities, Bobby Dale Blankenship Jr. of San Antonio was killed when his 2002 Ford pickup left the highway and hit a parked water tanker truck about 2.7 miles south of Skidmore.

Witnesses reported that the pickup Blankenship was driving had been seen traveling about 100 mph just before the collision.

According to a report filed by Highway Patrol Trooper Clarence Lewinski of the DPS George West office, Blankenship was northbound on U.S. Highway 181 in the left-hand lane at about 11:40 a.m. when the vehicle suddenly veered across the right-hand lane, onto the shoulder and into the bar ditch beside the highway.

The trooper reported that the vehicle raced north along the ditch and Blankenship apparently made no attempt to get out of the ditch.

The vehicle traveled 500 feet until it hit a 1997 Volvo water tanker. The trooper said Blankenship apparently was not wearing a seat belt and he was ejected through the windshield of the truck and into the tank on the truck.

One lawman at the scene Sunday said later that it appeared that Blankenship’s head hit a ladder that was welded to the tank.

Justice of the Peace Raul Casarez pronounced the victim dead at the scene and his body was taken to the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office in Corpus Christi by Treviño Funeral Home.

The second death involved a 58-year-old Beeville man who police believe was driving himself to Christus Spohn Hospital Beeville after experiencing heart attack symptoms.

Patrolman Peter Silvas, who worked the accident, said he was told that the victim, Joe C. Gonzales, was not injured when the 2008 Ford pickup he was driving crashed into a utility pole in the 1700 block of Emily Drive.

According to the report, Gonzales was going east in the 600 block of Paul Place at about 2:44 p.m. and he apparently lost consciousness at the intersection of Paul Place and Emily Drive.

The vehicle drove slowly across Emily Drive and hit the utility pole, causing minor damage to the right front bumper area of the truck.

Witnesses who heard and saw the collision ran to the vehicle to find Gonzales passed out behind the wheel, his foot on the accelerator and the rear tires racing.

The left rear tire eventually overheated and blew before firemen could get to the scene. They had been called to free the victim from the pickup.

However, by the time they arrived, officers had broken through the window in the right front door of the four-door pickup, had stopped the engine and had Gonzales ready for removal when EMS workers arrived.

Justice of the Peace Joe Lyvers was on the scene and he later reported to the emergency room at the hospital where doctors had already stopped trying to revive the victim. Lyvers pronounced Gonzales dead at 3:45 p.m.

The other accident involving the construction worker happened shortly after 11:30 a.m. Monday not far from where Blankenship was killed.

Trooper Shawn Stephenson said a large Dodge pickup truck pulling a Hitchhiker travel trailer was eastbound on SH 359 less than a mile from the Highway 181 junction at Skidmore when a pickup in front of it slowed down to make a left-hand turn.

Stephenson said the driver of the Dodge apparently was not paying attention and ended up pulling onto the shoulder of the highway to avoid hitting the other truck from behind.

But a team of workers with Highway Technologies of Corpus Christi was working on the shoulder at the time, picking up orange and white barricade barrels, and the truck struck a worker, knocking him unconscious and leaving him bleeding and seriously injured.

The victim’s brother-in-law told the Bee-Picayune that the victim was David Davila, who lives in the Rio Grande Valley.

Davila’s fellow construction workers stood nearby in shock as emergency medical technicians worked feverishly to stabilize his condition.

A helicopter from HALO-Flight arrived a short time later and paramedics from the aircraft worked with EMTs from Angel Care Ambulance Service in Beeville until they could safely transfer the victim to the helicopter.

EMTs at the scene said Davila was expected to be taken to Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi for treatment.

The brother-in-law said Davila suffered a broken spine, a skull fracture and other injuries and that he was to undergo surgery in Corpus Christi on Tuesday.

He said it was possible that Davila would be paralyzed as a result of his injuries.

Stephenson said the driver of the pickup, Ladislav Leo Hala, 75, could face possible traffic citations resulting from the accident.

Hala is from Mineola. Stephenson said at the scene that the accident still was under investigation.

Hala’s pickup was stopped a short distance east of the accident scene. One of the barrels was still stuck under his front bumper.