Three toddlers were killed Tuesday afternoon when a day-care minivan they were riding in burst into flames alongside a Blaine road.

The van's driver, a 37-year-old woman who is a Blaine day-care provider, managed to pull an 18-month-old and herself to safety, but the flames proved to intense for her or two passers by who stopped to help to get the other three children out of vehicle.

The three children killed were 4, 3, and 18 months old, according to a broadcast report in the Twin Cities.

The identities of the victims and the survivors were not released. The woman driving the van wasn't the mother of any of the children.

The survivors were treated and released from Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids.

The woman told authorities that she experienced mechanical difficulties with the van and pulled alongside the road near the intersection of Radisson Road and Cloud Drive in the northern suburb, according to a broadcast report in the Twin Cities.

After getting out of the minivan she saw the start of flames, but they spread too quickly for her to get all of the children out of the vehicle. It took emergency crews only 90 seconds to arrive at the scene after being alerted, but they, too, were unable to save the children.

"The vehicle was on fire, fully engulfed and there was nothing anybody could do to help," Blaine Police Chief David Johnson said.

After the fire was put out, damage was so extensive that the only hint of the van's color was a small patch of blue paint in the front, said Sandy Sumner, a neighbor.

"It was just a shell," she said.