The Monday afternoon rush-hour crash snarled traffic and delayed many motorists heading home from work.

The name, nationality and the age of the deceased could not be ascertained immediately. The charred remains have been shifted to the Dammam Central Hospital. Vehicle ownership papers and identification papers of the man also went up in the flames. The vehicle registration numbers, both front and back, melted in the intense heat of the blaze.

According to eyewitnesses, the man was driving a car that “looked very much like a Caprice.”

Although the exact cause of the accident is being investigated, they said the Caprice was involved in a collision with a limousine near the Medgulf office on the highway. Moments later the Caprice was engulfed in flames along with its driver. The limousine had only bumper damage. “We saw a ball of fire engulfing the vehicle, and within a few minutes it was all over,” said one eyewitness. “Such was the impact of the collision that the burning vehicle had its front turned around facing the opposite direction.”

Traffic on the busy highway coming from Alkhobar to Dammam came to a complete standstill with curious onlookers crowding both sides of the highway.

When it became difficult for fire engines to approach the accident site from Alkhobar because of the traffic jam, they approached it from the Dammam side. Traffic on the other side also ground to a halt.

Traffic police and firefighters rushed to the scene but by then the car was reduced to a charred hulk.

Civil Defense teams then cleared the accident site and the highway reopened to traffic.

Eastern Province Civil Defense spokesman Mansoor Al-Dossary confirmed that the man had been burned to death.

“It was a ghastly accident,” he said. He would not, however, talk about who was to blame for the inferno.

“All those things are being investigated by the police.” The highway is the main artery leading in and out of Alkhobar where most corporate offices are located, including those of a number of multinationals. Afternoon hours are particularly busy on the highway with fleets of school buses ferrying school students back home.