PHOENIX -- A suicidal driver rammed a big rig head-on Sunday afternoon in what a Department of Public Safety spokesman called "the most tragic event I've seen in recent months."

IMAGES: Crash Scene

Sgt. Tim Mason said the driver of a white van was trying to commit suicide when he crossed the center line on the Carefree Highway, between Interstate 17 and U.S. 60, around 4:30 p.m.

VIDEO: Sgt. Tim Mason Examines Debris

The driver of the big rig made it out of the truck moments before it burst into flames. He suffered no injuries.

"The vehicle was fully engulfed," Mason said.

The driver of the van died. Authorities said they are still working to identify the man.

Mason said officers found a suicide note in the man's wallet indicating the wreck had been planned.

DPS had to tell the man who survived what had happened.

"And just to deliver the news to this individual that someone intentionally created this collision and could have taken this life was hard to do," Mason said.

Mason said it also took a toll on DPS officers.

"To deal with the fact that someone willfully took his life and in order to do so, tried to take someone else's. That is hard to swallow. You see the charred remains of a semi-truck, an 18-wheeler, which is now no taller than me knees. That's hard," Mason said.

Motorists said they were in a state of disbelief.

"I just can't understand why he wants to hurt somebody else at the same time. It just doesn’t make any sense," said Ron Nowell, one of the many drivers stuck on the closed freeway while DPS cleared the scene.

Another motorist said he considered himself lucky.

"That's one of our fears on a late-night drive on a two-lane highway," he said.

The freeway was reopened just after 10 p.m.

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