File Photo | Source: Flickr – Inventorchris.

The driver of a vehicle was killed after they crashed into a ditch and their car caught fire on Route 41 in North Chicago Thursday morning.

The North Chicago Fire Department and North Chicago Police Department responded around 8:27 a.m. Thursday to Route 41 south of Route 137 for a single-vehicle crash with injuries.

Emergency crews located the crash in the southbound lanes of Route 41 near the Canadian National Railway viaduct, according to Jim Moran, Interim Community Information Coordinator for the City of North Chicago.

A preliminary investigation shows the vehicle was traveling southbound along Route 41 when the driver lost control of the car for an unknown reason and left the roadway, Moran said. The car entered a ditch along the west side of Route 41.

Firefighters extinguished the car fire and paramedics pronounced the driver, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, dead at the scene, Moran said.

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Lake County Coroner Dr. Howard Cooper told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that a positive identification has not yet been made on the victim. An autopsy is expected to take place Friday, Cooper said.

The crash remains under investigation by the North Chicago Police Department and Lake County Coroner’s Office.