According to police, officers responded to the intersection of Frelinghuysen Avenue and Evergreen Avenue just after 4:20 a.m. where the three vehicles were engulfed in flames.
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"It sounded like an airplane, like a very loud explosion, I didn't know it was a car," witness Johnathon Perez said.
Another witness said she saw the crash happen.
"The other car bumped the other car and they went underneath that tractor trailer other there, that's how the accident happened," witness Michelle Lee said.
Firefighters put out the flames and pulled four people from the wreckage, but police said all four victims succumbed to their injuries.
A fifth victim was taken to University Hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.
"I got up, came downstairs and saw the trailer tractor on fire, and saw that the car under that tractor trailer was on fire as well," Perez said.
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As the sun rose, family members and friends of the victims visited the scene of the deadly crash, holding on to hope.
The Newark Prosecutor's Office says the crash remains under investigation, but witnesses say they have seen a common denominator when it comes to crashes on this stretch of road.
"I've seen the cars racing down, they were going awfully fast," Lee said.
"A lot of racing happens here, a lot of stolen cars on this intersection, this is the main block where you go enter Elizabeth and Newark, a lot of things happen here," Perez said.
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