BERLIN, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- A pileup crash involving three vehicles took place near Germany's northwestern town of Kerpen early Sunday morning, killing four people and seriously injuring another.
The massive accident occurred at about 4:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) when a passenger car crashed first with a 40-ton truck in the rear end, running out of control and moving away from its driveway to the opposite lane, the daily Koelner Stadt Anzeiger reported.
The second car on the other lane, which failed to react in time, smashed into the car and caused an explosion. The first car was threw through the air due to the huge impact and landed on the opposite side of the A4 Highway.
The driver of the first car was dead and identified. Three of the four passengers in the second car were burned to death and could not be identified, the daily said.
The other passenger has been taken to hospital with life-threatening injury.
It was reported that the cause of the accident remained unclear. The A4 Highway has been blocked in both directions at least to Sunday afternoon.
