Fatal Levin crash: Victims were three young friends

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Two brothers are believed to be among three young men killed in a fiery crash in Levin, north of Wellington overnight.

Police have confirmed three people died when their car crashed into a parked truck and trailer and burst into flames.

A neighbour filmed the fiery scene shortly after midnight, capturing the car in flames, wedged under the trailer on Cambridge St.

The explosions echoed around the quiet suburban street and neighbours ran outside to try and help.

"We came outside and saw everything, and it was heaps of bangs," resident Santonia Cassidy told Newshub.

"Someone tried to get close to it but it exploded and had to back off."

There have been reports of someone screaming for help from the car but neighbours Newshub spoke to who were first on the scene, immediately after the impact, refute that.

They said the car was already in flames and there was nothing anybody could do.

A relative of one of the victims said the car exploded on impact, when it crashed head-on into the parked truck and trailer at a T-intersection.

She said police had told the family it would take some time to identify the bodies, as "there's nothing but their teeth left".

The full impact of the crash was evident on Sunday morning, long after the car had been towed away.

The truck and trailer was left charred and its owner, Brian Spencer, was in shock.

"It moved the truck sideways so the car must've been travelling at some speed unfortunately."

Police haven't commented on the cause of the crash, but the force was enough to shunt the truck a metre and a half, despite it carrying 30 tonnes of commercial paper rolls in the trailer.

Mr Spencer had lost a lot, but his main concern was for the families of those who died.

"I can replace a truck; I can repair steel. Life's life - once it's gone, it's gone," he said.

The truck driver was safely at home at the time, as he parks the truck there at the weekend.

He had been driving for Mr Spencer for just six weeks and had been left "cut up" by the crash, Mr Spencer said.

So too were the neighbours, who won't be forgetting this night for some time.

The flowers and charred footpath remained as a reminder that three young lives were lost on their street.

Newshub.