Three people died when the car in which they were riding slammed into a tractor-trailer rig that had turned in front of them on an East Texas highway.

The crash happened Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 59 at Loop 116 in Leggett in the East Texas Piney Woods, about 80 miles northeast of Houston. Trooper David Hendry of the Texas Department of Public Safety tells KTRE-TV of Lufkin the 18-wheeler was northbound on U.S. 59 and turning left onto Loop 116 when hit by the car.

The vehicles burst into flame. The truck driver escaped his cab but was kept by flames from rescuing the three.

Hendry identified the dead three as the driver, Deonta Lashard Wyatt of Livingston, and passengers Connie Ray Burch and Anita Burch, both of Leggett.