Four friends were killed when the car in which they were travelling left the road and crashed into a tree.
The blue Vauxhall Tigra coupe was compressed and broken into three pieces during the horrific crash in Neston, Cheshire.
The victims, two men aged 19 and 20 and two women aged 19 and 43, all from the Neston area, were killed outright.
Cheshire Police said they have been identified and their families have been informed.
A spokeswoman for Cheshire Police said: "The four are not family, not related. They are believed to be friends.
"Relatives have been notified and police family liaison officers are with them."
The car was travelling north towards Wirral, Merseyside, when the crash happened on the A540 Chester High Road, at around 2.10am.
The scene is just yards away from a sign warning motorists that there had been 59 collisions at that spot in the last three years.
Cheshire Police is appealing for witnesses.
The spokeswoman added: "We are still trying to establish the movements of the Tigra prior to the collision."
