HYATTSVILLE, Md. — A church van carrying adults and children through a suburb of the nation’s capital collided with a pickup truck that crossed into its path, and the pickup truck burst into flames in an accident that claimed four lives and left 14 others badly injured, authorities said.

A child was among the dead Sunday and authorities said the injuries ranged from serious to critical in the Maryland community of Hyattsville just northeast of Washington, D.C.

Witnesses say people ran with fire extinguishers from their homes but could do little to put out tall flames that rose above the pickup truck before firefighters arrived and put out the blaze. Authorities said the fire was kept to the pickup truck, whose driver died along with two adults and a child in the van.

Fire department spokesman Mark Brady in Maryland’s Prince George’s County called the crash scene and the numbers of victims, including children, one of the worst in his 40-year career. He said firefighters were among those debriefed by counselors afterward because of the magnitude of the crash.

Brady said police are still only in the early phases of investigating.

But he said authorities initially believe the pickup truck rear-ended a passenger vehicle before going several hundred feet farther up a road, losing control and then crossing a double yellow center line into the path of the van.

Once the pickup truck had crossed over the line, he said, the van struck the pickup on the right side and the pickup subsequently caught fire.