Woman Dies In Van Fire On Long Island Saturday Night

CORAM, NY — A woman died in a van fire on a Long Island roadway on Saturday night, police said.

Suffolk police received a 911 call that a 2002 Ford Econoline van had become "fully engulfed" on County Road 83, just north of Pine Road, at 6:15 p.m., the department said in a news release late Saturday.

The driver of the van, 53-year-old Mount Sinai resident Talal Saad, was able to escape from the van before officers arrived, but a woman, who was his passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner, police said.

Her name was withheld pending the notification of her next of kin.

Saad was transported by local ambulance to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of "non-life threatening injuries," according to police.

The cause of the fire has been preliminarily deemed "non-criminal in nature," but it is still under investigation by the Homicide Squad and Arson Section detectives, police said.

No further details were released by the police.

News 12 reported that officials told them that the fire spread from the rear of the van where there was a propane leak from a barbecue tank.

The vehicle was impounded for a safety check, police said. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392.