A horse/vehicle crash Tuesday morning on Route 161 Extension just west of Iuka Road has claimed the life of a rural Iuka man.

According to Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon, 51-year-old Jeffery Stuber was pronounced dead at the scene at 6 a.m.

Cannon says that Stuber’s 78-year-old father Ronald Stuber, also of rural Iuka, was driving eastbound with the younger Stuber as passenger when their car struck a large horse in the roadway just before dawn.

The impact of the animal caused fatal injuries to Jeffery Stueber. The driver sustained minor injuries in the crash and was taken to Salem Township Hospital where he was treated and released.

Cannon says Jeffery Stuber appears to have died instantly from multiple blunt force trauma injuries, and estimates the mature horse weighed approximately 1,500 lbs.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Department, Marion County EMS, and Iuka Fire all assisted at the scene.