Fatal crash in Kootenay National Park

Police say it's not clear how many people are dead after a three-vehicle crash on Highway 93 in Kootenay National Park Friday afternoon.

Police say the crash, which involved a semi truck and two passenger vehicles, happened at about 3 p.m. MT.

The crash caused the truck to ignite and explode, engulfing all three cars.

The driver of the truck escaped without injuries, police said, but none of the people in the two cars survived the crash and fire. The exact number of fatalities has not been confirmed, nor have the identities of the victims.

Witness Vic Ayotte was driving through the park when traffic stopped, and he saw a truck on fire up ahead.

"It was quite a spectacular fire because there was flames shooting out of the side and it was quite an inferno," he said. "Every once in awhile you'd hear this loud bang that sounded like a gunshot and I guess it was the tires blowing up and it was reverberating off the mountain, and it was kind of scary."

Ayotte said the fire engulfed the vehicles too quickly for bystanders to help the victims.

"The guy that was right behind the truck, he was running up there to help the trucker get out … and then there was just too many flames everywhere for anybody to help anybody. He could hear the people screaming, but it was too late. There was just fire everywhere," he said.

"It was horrible to realize ... somebody mentioned there were people in there. It was sad."

Ayotte said emergency officials were not called to the scene immediately because cellular service was unavailable in the area.