ROME (AP) " Italian news reports say a fiery highway crash in northern Italy has killed six people.

RAI state TV quoted firefighters in Brescia as saying that five of the dead, including two children, were in a car, and the sixth victim was a truck driver.

RAI said A21 highway traffic had already slowed to a crawl because of an earlier accident Tuesday when a truck loaded with sand struck the car in front of it, which in turn slammed into a tanker truck whose flammable liquid cargo caught fire.

Authorities didn't immediately identify the liquid.

Firefighters were on the highway about 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile) north of the crash site dealing with the earlier accident when the tanker truck caught fire. Thick, dark smoke was visible for miles.