One person has died following a fiery crash overnight on Highway 401 in eastern Ontario.

Ontario Provincial Police were called to Highway 401 near Gananoque, Ont. around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, after a transport truck reportedly collided with paving and safety vehicles that were parked at a construction zone.

A fire broke out at the scene, sending flames into the air. The fire burned for about an hour, witnesses say, before firefighters were able to get it under control. The truck appeared to be completely destroyed.

Witness John Tobias, who lives nearby, said he was awoken by the sound of an explosion.

“I could see that smoke started to rise up above the trees across the road from my house,” Tobias told CTV Ottawa.

He heard a second explosion, but it was “too dark” at the time to tell what vehicles were involved.

There were no construction crews on scene at the time.

The eastbound lanes reopened several hours after the crash, but the westbound lanes were expected to remain closed for several hours more.

Gananoque is located approximately 290 kilometres east of Toronto.