The car burst into flames leaving scorched grass at the roadside
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A 13-year-old boy was among three people killed when two cars collided and burst into flames.
The accident occurred when a Ford Granada was in collision with a Citroen ZX on the Queensway in Hastings, East Sussex, just before 2200 BST on Monday.
The driver of the Ford, a 48-year-old local man, died at the scene, as did the boy - his daughter's boyfriend.
The 31-year-old male driver of the Citroen, who was from Tonbridge in Kent, was also killed.
Pulled from wreckage
Police said the Ford was travelling south on the road - a notorious accident blackspot - when it veered into the opposite carriageway and collided head-on with the Citroen.
The Ford mounted the verge at the side of the road and burst into flames.
An ambulance passing the scene by coincidence stopped and the crew helped pull the passengers from the wreckage.
The two daughters of the Ford driver, aged 12 and 14, and his 32-year-old girlfriend were all seriously injured.
The teenage boy who died was the boyfriend of one of the girls.
The 32-year-old woman has been transferred to a London hospital with a specialist burns unit while the two girls are in a stable condition after emergency surgery at Conquest Hospital in Hastings.
A male passenger travelling in the Citroen also suffered serious injuries and is described as being comfortable.
Nigel Hammond of Sussex Ambulance praised the actions of his colleagues who stopped to pull the injured from the wreckage.
Flowers have been left at the roadside by friends of the victims
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He said: "We can't commend them enough.
"What they've done is completely selfless, they've put their own lives at risk for the sake of others."
Several other people have died in crashes on Queensway in recent years.
After Monday night's crash local residents have started up a petition calling for improved safety measures on the road.
Theresa Hepburn, a friend of the family in the Ford, spoke to the BBC when she laid flowers at the roadside.
She said: "This road is just so dangerous.
"It heads into such a deep corner and cars do travel too fast down it and there's no real measures to slow the traffic down at all."
Sgt Paul Masterson of Sussex Police said they were not treating the case as a criminal investigation at all.
He said: "We are preparing a file for the coroner's officer.
"At the end of the day we need to let the families know what has happened here so they know how their relatives have come to an end."