Speed may have played a role in a single vehicle crash that killed three men on Interstate 95 in Howard County, Maryland, on Thursday afternoon, state police said.

A 2005 Mazda 3 began driving aggressively in the northbound lanes of I-95, south of Md. Route 100, in the Elkridge area before it lost control and overturned in the center median, according to a preliminary state police investigation.

The vehicle struck multiple trees before coming to a rest around 3:25 p.m. Thursday.

The driver, Robert William Nagel, 44, and the two passengers, Michael Louis Labonte Jr, 33, and Eric Severin, 43, all of Laurel, were declared dead at the scene by the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Service.

The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Two lanes of northbound I-95 were closed for hours after the crash.