Horrible car crash kills father and his two sons after falling asleep while driving (Photos)

A really horrifying car crash along a highway has left the vehicle unimaginably mangled and the passengers dead.

The man, a British father has died alongside his two young sons in car crash in France.

His wife and another child were severely injured in the crash, which took place on A39 motorway at Savigny-en-Revermont, in the east of the country, south of Dijon.

Witnesses saw the driver lose control of the car shortly after 7am. It left the road, smashed through barriers, crossed an embankment, and then fell on to a slip road.

Early theories are that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel as no other vehicles were involved, and weather and road conditions were good, according to investigating sources.

An investigating officer at the scene of the crash said the enquiry was currently focusing on the driver losing control of the vehicle.

“We can perhaps imagine he fell asleep, or was distracted by something,” said the senior police commander.

Other rescue workers said the man had been trapped inside the wreckage when they arrived, but died within minutes of a heart attack.

Pictures later showed the burnt out wreckage of the vehicle, which was surrounded by debris, and almost unrecognisable as a family car.

Local police said ‘two out of three children onboard’ – aged four and 10 – are thought to have ‘died instantly, alongside their father’, who was aged 31.

The children’s mother survived, alongside a three-year-old child, but both had been rushed to an intensive car unit.

Both were airlifted to the Edouard Herriot hospital in Lyon, where a spokesman said they were ‘in a critical condition’.

A judicial enquiry into the tragedy has been opened, and the early theory is that the diver fell asleep at the wheel.

Two emergency helicopters were scrambled to the scene of the crash, which saw the A39 shut in both directions.

The family, who have not been identified, lived in Britain and were thought to be on holiday in France.

A psychological unit was set up around the scene of the crash, to treat those who had witnessed the horror.