A Warren County woman and her 2-year-old daughter were killed early this morning in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler south of Vicksburg.

Anitra Fisher, 23, 190 C.J. Fisher Drive, and her child, Alexus Harris, were pronounced dead around 1:30 near Tingleville by Warren County Coroner John Thomason.

“It was a horrible scene. It really was,” Thomason said.

Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol spokesman Warren Strain said Fisher was southbound in a 1997 Mitsubishi Gallant on Mississippi Highway 27 near Gibson Road when the car hit the northbound 18-wheeler. Strain could not say what caused the Gallant to go into the northbound lane.

The car was mangled nearly beyond recognition, and initial reports indicate the 1998 Freightliner truck was heavily damaged, he said.

Mother and daughter were wearing seat belts, but both were thrown from the car. The driver of the truck, Jewel Bennett of Folsom, La., was not injured, he said.

Thomason said Fisher was on her way home, but could not say from where. Her body and her child’s were released to Jefferson Funeral Home.

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said that traffic had to be rerouted through China Grove Road for about three hours while debris was cleaned up from along the highway.

Mississippi 27 is on the state’s list for four-laning between Vicksburg and Crystal Springs where it intersects with Interstate 55, but actual work is not scheduled to begin for several more years.