A spun out pickup truck was the cause of the dramatic Green River Tunnel crash that killed three people, an investigation into the incident has determined. 

The snowy February 14th crash in the Green River Tunnel along westbound Interstate 80 near Green River, Wyoming took the lives of two people inside one passenger vehicle and one truck driver trapped in his burning rig in the pile-up.

According to a preliminary National Transportation Safety Board, the fiery pile up crash started when a Toyota pickup truck lost control on the icy road as it exited the tunnel. The Toyota pickup truck spun out and hit a guardrail, coming to a stop across the right and left lane. 

Oncoming vehicles then tried to avoid hitting the spun out Toyota pickup truck. A tractor trailer soon jacknifed trying to avoid a collision with other vehicles avoiding the Toyota pickup, and came to a stop blocking both lanes of traffic about 200 feet from the tunnel’s exit. 

A Dodge pickup soon crashed into the jacknifed tractor trailer, and a second tractor trailer then hit the Dodge pickup. The second tractor trailer became entangled with the Dodge pickup and the two hit the jacknifed tractor trailer again before striking the Toyota pickup and another vehicle outside of the tunnel. 

Several other vehicles then crashed inside of the tunnel, causing a pileup that caught fire. 

Two people inside of the dodge pickup died in the crash, and a truck driver trapped inside of his wrecked rig died when it caught fire. Twenty other people sustained injuries in the crash, reported AP News.

The NTSB investigation findings contradict online rumors that a semi truck started the deadly crash.