Owner of Fort Scott business killed in auto accident in Miami County

The owner and president of a Fort Scott business was killed in a two-vehicle accident early Thursday morning in Miami County near Louisburg.

According to a Kansas Highway Patrol report, Scott E. Klein, 57, of San Clemente, Calif., was killed when the 2012 Ford PC he was driving southbound on U.S. Highway 69 collided with a 1997 GMC Van driven by Marilyn Nickell, 45, of Drexel, Mo.

The accident took place at 5:30 a.m. Thursday at the U.S. 69 mile marker 119 or about two miles south of Louisburg. The van was northbound in the southbound left-hand lane of U.S. 69. Klein's vehicle was southbound in the same lane of the highway when the vehicles collided, the report said. Chuck Stewart, chief financial officer of Klein Products, said Klein had been working at the plant in Fort Scott the last couple of weeks, and was on his way to Fort Scott from Kansas City when the accident occurred. The report said Nickell was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

She was taken to the University of Kansas Medical Center and is listed as "disabled" in the report.

Klein was also wearing a safety restraint and taken to KU Medical Center, where he died. Both vehicles were towed from the scene.

Klein Products of Kansas is a manufacturer of water tanks, tankers, truck tanks, street flushers and water pumps for various mining, construction, agricultural and government agencies.

Stewart said Klein started the local branch of the company in 1990.