Three people died Friday morning in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 17 in northwest Phoenix, the Arizona Department of Safety said.

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The wrong-way driver was identified as a 22-year-old man who was driving a car with Colorado license plates, DPS spokesman Raul Garcia said. Two women, who were 19 and 20 and believed to be sisters, were in the other car involved in the crash. The car they were in had North Carolina plates.

Phoenix fire Capt. Reda Bigler told KNXV-TV that the three victims were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities did not immediately release their names.

The wrong-way driver was in a Chrysler Sebring and the women were in a white Pontiac, according to KNXV-TV.

The crash was reported just after 2 a.m. MST in the northbound lanes of I-17 at Greenway Road.

Authorities said it was not immediately clear whether alcohol was a factor in the collision, although Garcia told The Arizona Republic that the "majority, if not all, the wrong-way accidents that we investigate involving injury or death are a direct result (of) impaired driving."

The crash shut down northbound lanes of I-17 for hours.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.