Fiery Highway 400 multi-vehicle crash leaves girl, 5, and 3 others dead

A five-year-old girl and two of her family members are believed to be among the four people killed in a fiery, multi-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in north Toronto on Friday night, Ontario Provincial Police said today.

• Fiery crash on Hwy 400 leaves 4 dead, including child, vehicles 'completely unrecognizable'

"Sadly we're having a very difficult time even identifying the deceased because of the fire," said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt at the scene near Finch Avenue on Monday morning.

A car rear-ended a transport truck in the southbound lanes of the highway just before 10 p.m. ET. A total of 11 vehicles were involved in the pileup — police originally said 12 vehicles were involved, but corrected the total Monday.

"I've never seen a collision of this magnitude," said Schmidt. "A fire consumed three of the vehicles, a trailer and then two more cars."

Paramedics pronounced three adults and one child dead at the scene on Friday. Two people were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while several others sustained minor injuries. 

Two of the adults who died were in the same car as the five-year-old girl. The other adult was in a different vehicle.

Police are still trying to determine the cause of the crash, but Schmidt says investigators are focusing on the actions of one of the transport trucks involved.

He said they're trying to figure out whether the truck tried to slow down for traffic.

Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact police at 416-235-4981.