A BRIDE and groom on the way to their wedding were killed in a fireball motorway pile-up involving five lorries.

Kathryn Schurtz and Joseph Kearney died as their car was sandwiched between HGVs and burst into flames in Pennsylvania, US.

They were on their way from their home in New Jersey to Pittsburgh where they were due to marry the next day, relatives said.

Three others were hurt in the horror crash last Wednesday, which cops said was caused by a lorry driver failing to slow for traffic on the Interstate 78 motorway.

Joseph’s aunt Mary Kay Heinle said on Facebook: “Our lives changed tragically last Thursday. Our nephew Joseph Kearney and his beautiful fiancée Kate Schurtz were killed in an automobile accident on their way home for their wedding to be held that day.

“Our memories will help carry us through. They were truly the brightest shining lights snuffed out way too soon.”

Kathryn, 35, the daughter of a local councillor, worked for IT firm Oracle in New York and lived with her fiancé in nearby Jersey City.

An online obituary said: “She will be remembered for her voracious appetite for reading, love of cooking, and trailblazing new adventures with Joseph.

“Surviving are her parents, Joseph and Karen; her sister, Kimberly; her sister and brother-in-law, Joanne and Kevin Schwoer, and her nephew, Landon Schwoer (3 months).”

The Facebook page for the bride’s hometown Fanwood said: “Our hearts go out to former Fanwood Councilwoman Karen Schurtz who lost her daughter and future son-in-law in a car accident on their way to their wedding this past week. We are so very sorry.”

It was the second crash in a few minutes on that stretch of motorway which locals say is dangerous because of the volume of lorries, reports the local Reading Eagle.

Traffic was forced to slow by the first crash in which no one was hurt.

But an HGV driver failed to slow in time and ploughed into the back of Kathryn and Joseph’s car, shunting it into of another lorry.

Three more lorries were hit in a “chain reaction”, police said.

The car and two of the lorries caught fire.

Pictures showed firefighters dousing the charred wreckage at the scene in Berks County, north-west of Philadelphia.

Last month 20 people were killed including two newlywed couples in a limousine crash in upstate New York.