GARDENS CORNER -- Four people were killed and seven injured early Thursday morning when a passenger van carrying 14 people collided with a pickup in a fiery crash on U.S. 17 about three miles north of the Gardens Corner intersection.

After the two trucks hit, a tractor-trailer struck the pickup as it spun from the initial crash, S.C. Highway Patrol officials said.

The wreck occurred on a stretch of U.S. 17 that is about a mile from where three sailors died and dozens were injured in a March 2004 crash.

The van was heading south at about 5:15 a.m. when the pickup driving north crossed the line of the two-lane highway and struck the van head-on, killing three passengers, said Lance Cpl. Paul Brouthers of the S.C. Highway Patrol. The pickup's passenger also was killed.

Six other passengers in the van and the driver of the pickup were taken to area hospitals.

One of the people killed in the wreck was identified Thursday night by Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland as 25-year-old Patrick Glenn Adams. The other fatalities were not identified because the identities had not been confirmed, Copeland said.

Brouthers also said the survivors' names had not been confirmed as of Thursday night.

The tractor-trailer driver wasn't injured, he said.

The six people injured in the van were transported to Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Brouthers said, and one was then taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah. The injured driver of the pickup was flown to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

Both lanes of U.S. 17 were closed until about noon.

Excessive speed was not thought to have been a factor in the collisions, Brouthers said. Charges are pending against the driver of the pickup.

"In a head-on, if both people are going 55 mph, they're closing in at 110 mph," he said. "It's going to be a violent collision."

Alcohol and drugs also were not believed to have played a part, Brouthers said.

Sheldon Fire District, Beaufort and Hampton County Emergency Medical Services and the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and Highway Patrol responded to the scene.

The passenger van was smashed and burned from the crash. Spots of blood could be seen on the smashed dashboard of the pickup and on the ground around it.

As troopers collected evidence from the scene, trucker Lonnie Powers stood near the wreck, his own semi idling. He said he came upon the crash site within minutes of the wreck.

"The van was smoking and starting to catch fire," Powers said. "It just happened so fast."

He and other truckers tried putting the fire out with fire extinguishers, he said, but were unsuccessful.

"It was messed up," he said. "They need to widen this road."

The most recent data by the state Transportation Department for wrecks on the 22-mile stretch of U.S. 17 in Beaufort to Colleton counties from 1997 to 2003 show 895 crashes with 23 deaths and 552 injuries. The road's reputation as a crash corridor received national television attention last month as part of a "Dateline NBC" segment on dangerous highways.

Public and political sentiment increased when the death of the sailors in 2004. The bus crash on the stretch of road brought attention to the 23 fatalities over the previous six years.

The road has been eyed by state lawmakers and transportation officials for widening, but the potential price tag has not been funded beyond $9 million in engineering and design work.

In response to Thursday's wreck and numerous other crashes along U.S. 17, Rep. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort, said she will form an advocacy group for widening the highway to four lanes and to expedite the permitting and funding process at the federal level. Those interested in joining the group can call Ceips at 524-2020.