Two people have died after being trapped in a burning car after an horrific three-car pile up that sparked a bushfire at a popular tourist spot in a Northern Territory national park.
The three cars carrying nine people were travelling in a convoy near Tolmer Falls at Litchfield National Park when they crashed around 4pm on Sunday.
While driving up to 30km over the 80km/h speed limit, the first car lost control on a bend, hit a tree and burst into flames, police say.
"The vehicle has then split into two," Acting Superintendent Matt Parsons said.
Two back seat passengers aged 21 and 22 managed to escape the fire but the driver and the front passenger were trapped and burnt to death.
The explosion caused a blaze in the remote national park that firefighters were battling up until 9pm on Sunday night.
Authorities have described chaotic scenes for emergency services and traumatised witnesses trying to get help with no phone reception.
A 35-year-old man who sustained head injuries had to be airlifted to hospital along with one other patient, Craig Garraway from St John Ambulance NT said.
The two other cars in the convoy also veered off the road and crashed into bushland.
The five passengers aged between 20 and 27 were taken to Royal Darwin Hospital around 150km away to be treated for minor injuries and shock.
"They saw it all happen and tried to save their friends and unfortunately couldn't, so you can imagine that they required a fair bit of emotional support," Mr Garraway said.
"It was a horrific scene."
Sup Parsons said the bodies are yet to be identified with investigations ongoing.
"Due to the intense fire we've obviously called in our disaster identification experts... that'll either be done by teeth or DNA," he said.
A crime scene remains in place with roads closed and traffic diverted.
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