A pileup involving multiple vehicles and two tractor-trailers killed three people and injured five more on the Cross Bronx Expressway Tuesday, police say.

It happened on the northbound Cross Bronx Expressway near Jerome and Webster avenues around 5:45 a.m.

Two tractor-trailers and a Ford pickup truck collided in the middle lane after one had stopped, possibly due to traffic. The accident sandwiched the pickup, which was carrying five men, between both trailers, police say.

EMS pronounced three men in the pickup dead at the scene. Police later identified two of them as 51-year-old Henry Walker, of Livingston, New Jersey, and 21-year-old Khalil J. Walker, of Tobbyhanna, Pennsylvania. The third, a 58-year-old, was not identified pending notification of his family.

The momentum of the big trucks carried one of them into a Toyota Corolla, which it pinned against the median.

The injured victims were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital. One has already been released, and another was expected to be cleared to leave soon, according to officials. The remaining victims were listed in stable condition.

Police say all of the involved drivers tested negative for alcohol and have clean driving records. Investigators are looking into whether speed was a factor.

All lanes reopened after about six hours of closures.