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Port Arthur Police Department investigators said a vehicle struck oncoming traffic in the moments before crashing into a ship channel, leading to the driver’s death Tuesday morning.

According to Det. Ahmaal Bodden, at approximately 6:11 a.m. Tuesday, a maroon Honda Civic was traveling in the 3000 block of South Martin Luther King Drive and failed to maintain a single lane of traffic and struck an oncoming vehicle.

Police believe the Honda failed to maintain control, went off the roadway and went into the ship channel. After an extensive search by the Port Arthur Police Department and Port Arthur Fire Department, the vehicle and driver were recovered.

“Upon being recovered, the driver of the vehicle was unresponsive and later pronounced dead,” Bodden said, adding the case is under investigation by PAPD’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Authorities said the victim is a 39-year-old South Texas man, who was killed when his vehicle left the roadway and went into the Intracoastal Canal on Pleasure Island.

Justice of the Peace Brad Burnett said the body was retrieved at approximately 7:06 a.m.

Burnett said the driver was leaving work from the Cheniere terminal in Sabine Pass and, for some reason, veered over to the left, entering the water.

The man’s name is not being released pending notification of next of kin.

Authorities said he was from South Texas.

Members of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit also responded, Burnett said.