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Camden Diocese priest killed in car crash

Another driver involved in the crash, who was not identified by name, also died.

The Diocese of Camden at 631 Market St. in Camden, NJ on Oct. 2, 2020. Rev. Alfred Onyutha, who served the diocese since 2005, was killed Friday in car crash that also left a second driver dead.
The Diocese of Camden at 631 Market St. in Camden, NJ on Oct. 2, 2020. Rev. Alfred Onyutha, who served the diocese since 2005, was killed Friday in car crash that also left a second driver dead.Read moreALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer

The Rev. Alfred Onyutha, a priest who had served in the Diocese of Camden since 2005, was killed in a two-car crash Friday that took the life of a second driver as well, the diocese said in a statement Saturday.

The accident occurred in Franklin Township, Gloucester County, after 9 p.m. Friday, according to the diocese. The name of the second driver was not released in the statement by the diocese, and township police could not immediately be reached Saturday for further details about the accident.

The Burlington County Times, citing police, reported that Onyutha’s car left its lane and hit an oncoming car along Tuckahoe Road. The other driver, a 44-year-old Monroe man, was pronounced dead at Cooper University Hospital, according to the news outlet.

“This is a terrible and tragic loss for two families and for parishioners in two dioceses,” Camden Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan said in a statement.

Onyutha, 61, was born in Uganda, where he became a priest in 1990. He held four parish assignments over 15 years in Uganda’s Diocese of Nebbi before moving to the United States.

Most recently, Onyutha served as parochial vicar at St. Padre Pio Parish in Vineland.