6-car crash kills 3, injures 4 in Van Buren Township

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) - A horrific crash in Van Buren Township killed three people Tuesday.

The accident shut down the intersection of Ecorse and Van Buren roads. A passerby recorded the aftermath of gruesome accident, which involved about six vehicles.

ABOVE: Video of the crash scene (May be upsetting to some viewers, discretion is advised)

Police say one of the cars exploded after colliding into another vehicle. Two people inside of it both died. A man driving an SUV also died in the crash; a 10-year-old boy was inside that vehicle. He was one of four survivors in the crash, who all had minor injuries.

It all happened on Belleville Road at Ecorse at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday. A rear end collision is believed to have caused a chain reaction involving the mangled mess of metal.

"When our police and fire units arrived, you see what you see here, except one of those vehicles was engulfed in flames," said Public Safety Director Greg Laurain, Van Buren Township. "Our fire personnel suppressed the flames got the fire out. Right now it is under investigation. We ended up with three fatalities out of this accident.

"This is very hard on our public safety personnel. We look at the aspect of the family members that are involved with it and how it affects their lives, our first responders have to deal with that, too."

Van Buren police and fire were still at the scene late Tuesday night.

Belleville Road is blocked off just north of Ecorse Road as is west bound Ecorse from Amanda Drive.