Associated Press and New York Times reports

SCARSDALE, N.Y. — Five children from Connecticut, ranging in age from eight to 17, were killed in a fiery early morning crash Sunday on a New York highway, police said.

Police believe the vehicle was being driven by a 16-year-old boy when it veered off the Hutchinson River Parkway in Scarsdale, hit a tree and caught fire. A 9-year-old boy, the sixth person in the Nissan Rogue, was the only survivor, according to a statement provided by Kieran O’Leary, spokesperson for the Westchester County Police Department.

The 9-year-old was “apparently riding in the rear hatchback/cargo area and escaped out the rear,” according to the statement. The boy was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The five who were killed include four males and a female. Their identities have not yet been released. Police said they are all from Connecticut, which is roughly 12 miles (19 km) by car from Scarsdale. The New York Times reported Sunday the children are from Derby, Connecticut.

Police said the single-vehicle crash occurred at about 12:20 a.m. and remains under investigation.

The crash occurred as the car was heading northbound on the Hutchinson River Parkway, between Mamaroneck Road and Mamaroneck Avenue near the Scarsdale-White Plains border. The vehicle veered off the road for unknown reasons and crashed into a tree, where it caught fire, police said.

While trucks sometimes crash into a low bridge that crosses the Hutchinson River Parkway at Mamaroneck Road, the site of Sunday's crash was not a known trouble spot, police said.

But a local news investigation in 2015 that used state data obtained via the Freedom of Information Law detailed New York's most dangerous stretches of roadway. The Hutchinson River Parkway, near Mamaroneck Avenue, made the list.