New Delhi: Three persons were on Wednesday burnt to death and two others injured as their cars collided and caught fire in the national capital, police said.

The accident occurred at 6.20 p.m near Anand Vihar in east Delhi when a speeding Eco Sport car lost balance and hit a Maruti Omni car coming from the opposite direction.

“Following the collision, both cars caught fire. The fire spread fast trapping the occupants of both vehicles,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Meghna Yadav said.

“Some passersby and police team pulled the injured occupants out of the ill-fated vehicles and took them to a nearby hospital,” Yadav said.

Omni occupant Shamsad, 28, a resident of Mustafabad, and Eco Sports occupants Akshay Jain, 21, and Garve Sehgal, 30, were declared dead in the hospital, the officer said.

The other two injured — identified as Abdul, 30, and Imran, 28 — were also occupants of Omni car.

“The vehicles involved in the accident were gutted before fire tenders reached the site,” the DCP said.

The injured and the deceased were residents of different areas of east Delhi. The exact sequence of the accident is being established, according to her.