A truck driver was found dead of a heart attack in his turkey truck Wednesday around 5 a.m.

The truck was found in a ditch at the White Lake Baptist Church on N.C. 41. Bladen County Coroner Hubert Kinlaw said the driver, Richard Grenburiz of Wingate, suffered a heart attack while returning to Monroe.

Grenburiz drove for Circle S Ranch, a poultry contractor that regularly transports birds through White Lake to a processor in Duplin County.

Kinlaw said Grenburiz had told a co-worker he was feeling ill a short time earlier. Grenburiz later contacted another driver via radio to say he thought he was having a heart attack.

Kinlaw said Grenburiz had slowed the truck and "it just laid down" after crossing the center line and striking the ditch in front of the church.

"Thankfully no one was coming on the opposite side of the road," Kinlaw said. "He was likely unresponsive when the truck crossed the center line. I doubt he could have avoided another driver."

The truck was empty at the time of the crash, according to White Lake Fire Chief Dale Brennan.

White Lake Fire and Rescue personnel, the White Police Department, and the N.C. Highway Patrol responded. Trooper Scott Floyd investigated.

--30-