A FIERY crash has claimed three lives and left investigators baffled at its cause.
All on-board the Mercedes Benz were killed in the inferno, with fears tonight a fourth body was inside the burnt-out car in Northcote.
Police at the scene say the late-model Mercedes had been driving west along Westgarth St when it struck a parked Subaru and hit a tree before spinning into a power pole and bringing down powerlines.
It is believed the power line ignited a ruptured fuel tank.
The three known fatalities were believed to be adult men although disaster victim identification specialists were brought in because of the state of the bodies.
Insp Steve Smith said the cause of the crash was still a mystery.
An initial inspection indicates the car may not have been speeding, it was on or around the 60kmh speed limit so it's a mystery at the moment as to why the car left the road," he said.
Insp Smith said the occupants were most likely killed by the fire.
"Whether they suffered any injuries from the crash we're not sure because of the state of the occupants in the car," he said.
Witnesses said there was little that could be done to save those trapped in the fire-ball.
Yuri Pavlinov said the car was fully ablaze within seconds.
"I saw a Mercedes on the footpath just burning,'' he said.
"It was fully engulfed and a minute after that it fully erupted."
Flames reached metres into the sky as horrified passersby watched on in horror.
"You couldn't see into the vehicle, it was just burning, burning," Mr Pavlinov said.
Ms Sitka described the scene as chaotic.
"I saw a huge ball of flames," she said. "I assumed it was a house fire."
She said shocked paramedics couldn't believe their eyes.
"After the fire fighters extinguished the blaze the paramedics just walked up to the car and shook their heads because the people were totally incinerated," she said.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade communications manager John Rees said the "jaws of life" were needed cut open the vehicle.
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