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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A speeding car slammed into a parked tractor-trailer carrying herbicide Sunday, killing all three occupants of the car, authorities said.
Officers were called to the Holmesburg neighborhood in northeast Philadelphia shortly after 2:30 a.m. and reported both vehicles engulfed in flames.
The Chevy Camaro went airborne over the crest of a hill near an intersection before hitting the unoccupied truck head-on, police said.
Capt. Anthony Ginaldi said a witness reported hearing people screaming inside the car but couldn't reach them because of the flames.
"With the holidays coming up, it's a tragic loss of life, and for what?" he said.
Ginaldi said the tractor-trailer was carrying herbicide, and a hazardous materials crew was called to clean up that and spilled fuel.
"It was powder form, and their own concern was that as they were extinguishing the fire, some of the powder may have run off down the gutter," he said. "And they were containing that."
Another nearby parked and unoccupied tractor-trailer also caught fire in the crash, possibly because of live wires or solvent from the smashed vehicles, police said.
The medical examiner's office was trying to identify the victims, police said.
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