Amaravati: Three persons were charred to death when two trucks caught fire after a collision in Palnadu district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, police said. 

The accident occurred on the national highway near Boyapalem on the border between Palnadu and Guntur districts when a truck rammed into another truck while trying to avoid a stationary vehicle.

Both trucks caught fire after a collision on the National Highway 16 (Kolkata-Chennai National Highway) early this morning. The drivers of both trucks and a cleaner of one of the trucks were trapped in the flames and charred to death. 

Police and fire-fighting personnel rushed to the spot and doused the fire. 

The rescue workers pulled out the charred remains of the deceased after five hours

According to police, while one truck was loaded with tiles, the other was carrying paper. 

A truck had come to a halt on the road due to a breakdown. A truck laden with tiles, which was heading to Machilipatnam from Kurnool, tried to avoid hitting the stationary truck and rammed into the road divider. It then collided with a truck coming in the opposite direction.

Such was the impact of the collision that the front portions of both vehicles were badly mangled and the drivers and cleaner were trapped inside. A spark due to the collision triggered a fire which engulfed both vehicles. 

A police officer said that as one of the trucks was carrying paper, the fire spread rapidly. Both vehicles were gutted.

The deceased were identified as Mekala Ravikumar and Ramesh, driver and cleaner of the truck loaded with tiles, and Dharmapathi, driver of the paper-laden truck from Karnataka.

Police shifted the charred remains to a nearby government hospital. 

The accident caused a huge traffic jam on the highway. Police deployed earthmovers and cranes to remove the vehicles and restored the traffic.

Police registered a case and took up the investigation.