A "hell of a loud sound" is how Russell Martin of Hermitage described the impact of a two-car crash about 5:20 p.m. Saturday on state Route 18 in Wilmington Township that killed a man.

Brenda Boyle Jones, 33, was driving her car south on state Route 18 in front of Double Tree Driving Range when she saw a car coming toward her.

"It looked like it was passing a car, but it wasn't going back across the (center) line. It kept going," she said. Then she said the car crashed head-on into hers.

The driver of the other car died later at Jameson Health System in New Castle, state police at New Castle said.

Martin, who was driving home on Route 18 from his job at Westminster College, didn't see the wreck happen but he wasn't the only one who heard the crash.

The sound brought Linda and James Caruso, who live about a quarter mile away, to the scene of the accident.

Martin, the Carusos and other passersby tried to help out. They went to Ms. Jones' car first because they heard the sound of children. Inside the car were Ms. Jones' two children, 3 and 5, and her mother.

Martin was able to get one child out, but the second wouldn't leave Ms. Jones and Ms. Jones did not want to leave her mother so both stayed in the car. That's when the people at the scene noticed flames shooting out of the other car, he said.

"We pulled a man out of that car. He was unconscious but had a pulse. He looked shocky," Martin said. Martin said the man was in his 60s or 70s and it didn't look like anyone else was in the car.

Martin, Caruso and others then got the other child and Ms. Jones, whose leg was hurt, out of the car to get them away from the fire. Mrs. Caruso stayed by Ms. Jones' side on the road, and Ms. Jones' children were kept in a van with people who had come upon the accident.

State police, ambulance crews and New Wilmington fire fighters arrived on the scene. Firefighters used a cutting device to get Ms. Jones' mother out of the car and douse the burning car.

Paramedics turned their attention first to the injured man and tried to resuscitate him. He and the others hurt in the wreck were taken to Jameson Memorial Hospital.

State police at Mercer, who are investigating the wreck, would not release the names of anyone involved in the crash Saturday night.