TOMS RIVER -- Four men from Ocean County, including two brothers, were killed when their vehicle slammed into the back of a tanker truck on the Garden State Parkway overnight Wednesday, police said.

The post-Christmas Day collision between the tanker and a white Infiniti G37 sedan occurred shortly before 3 a.m. on the southbound lane at mile marker 81.5, according to a Facebook post from New Jersey State Police.

Police identified the dead as brothers Kevin Quispe-Prieto, 21, of Beachwood, and 23-year-old Jimmy Quispe-Prieto of Lakewood; and 24-year-old Victor Lugo and 23-year-old Robert Ordenana, also of Lakewood.

Police said Kevin Quispe-Prieto was driving the Infiniti in the right lane when it struck the tanker truck. All four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the tanker, who was not identified, sustained minor non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The tanker belonged to Taylor Oil Company, a fuel company based in Somerville.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The crash is the deadliest car accident in New Jersey in 2018, according to State Police data.

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State Police Trooper Alejandro Goez said officers concluded the on-site investigation at about 9 a.m.

Toms River police assisted at the crash site, Chief Mitch Little said. He referred all other questions to the State Police.

The right lane of the southbound side of the parkway remained blocked until 8:30 a.m. as police continued to investigate at the crash scene, according to 511nj.org, New Jersey's transportation website. All lanes are now clear.

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First responders remained at the scene several hours after the collision.

A white vehicle was left mangled following the collision. The roof the car appeared to have been cut off and the front had been demolished in the crash.

A black van with tinted windows with a stretcher sitting next to it was on the scene at about 8 a.m.

The crash appeared to have taken place in an acceleration lane where vehicles merge onto the parkway southbound from Lakehurst Road. That stretch of the parkway runs relatively straight with slight hills in the area.

While the crash is the deadliest in the state this year, it is the latest in a string of violent high-profile motor vehicle crashes involving New Jersey residents.

In May, two people were killed and dozens others injured when a bus filled with Paramus fifth-graders collided with a dump truck on Route 80.

The next month, five members of a Teaneck family were killed in a crash on a Delaware highway.

Earlier this month, a student at The College of New Jersey was killed and several others injured when a driver allegedly under the influence slammed into a vehicle carrying students home from a party near the college's campus.

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