3 dead as trash truck, transit van crash on Route 1 Bypass in Delco

Three people were killed in a crash involving a trash truck and a community transit van on Tuesday morning along a busy Delaware County road during rush hour, police said.

According to police officials in Upper Providence Township, the crash happened at about 7:55 a.m. along the Route 1 Bypass in Upper Providence Township.

The roadway between routes 252 and 352 was closed to traffic due to the incident as of about 8:20 a.m., officials said. It wouldn't reopen until several hours later.

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Three people were killed in the crash, the official noted, however they have not yet released further detail on the victims and have not said if there were others injured in the crash.

One of the vehicles appeared to be burned out as SkyForce10 hovered overhead.

On Tuesday, a representative of Delaware County's District Attorney's Office said that investigators believe the crash happened when a community transit van rear-ended a vehicle that was towing a dumpster.

The van caught fire, and the driver and two passengers perished in the fire, the official said.

"I woke up to the sound of, like, sirens. I heard a loud crash," Andy Taylor, who lives near the scene of the crash told NBC10's Karen Hua. "There was just kind of like a loud roaring kind of sound, which I'm guessing was the fire."

According to police, officers arriving at the scene found the van in flames and two of the passengers had been extracted from the wreck by passing motorists, though the victims were pronounced at the scene.

The driver of the other vehicle was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Delaware County District Attorney's Office.  

This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.