Four young males were killed when a car collided with a house in Chippenham this morning.
The vehicle burst into a fireball following the crash at around 3am, with a number of heroic passing members of the public failing in their frantic efforts to free the casualties from the wreckage.
Emergency services quickly arrived at the scene and firefighters extinguished the blaze. All four occupants of the car were pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.
The car left the road, entered undergrowth, hit the side of a house and overturned in the collision on A4 London Road – on the bend near to The Lysley Arms pub.
Firefighters from Calne spent several hours working at the scene this afternoon, extricating the deceased from the car alongside detectives and crime scene investigators.
All four males are from the local area. Their families have been informed and are being supported by specially trained Family Liasion Officers (FLOs).
The road has so far been closed for more than 12 hours as specialist collision investigators work to establish the cause of the crash which claimed the lives of the males, thought to be aged in their late teens.
Supt Steve Cox said: “This was an absolutely horrific collision on our roads in the early hours of this morning. All blue light services attended the scene and were met with devastating scenes after a vehicle travelling along the A4 collided with a house and caught on fire.
“All four occupants of the vehicle died at the scene. Their families have been informed and we are in the process of assigning each family with specialist trained officers. My thoughts, and the thoughts of all at Wiltshire Police are with them all today.”