(KNZA)--An early Saturday morning single-vehicle Jefferson County wreck claimed the life of a Valley Falls man.

The Kansas Highway Patrol says killed in the wreck on K-4 highway, about 2 miles north of of Meriden, was 51-year-old Robert Elias.

The Patrol reports Elias was driving a pickup truck that left the highway and went onto the shoulder. He overcorrected, causing his vehicle to cross the highway and go into a ditch.  The truck continued down an embankment and rolled, striking a tree, before coming to rest upright hanging over a culvert.  

Elias, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was ejected.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The wreck was reported around 4:20 Saturday morning.