KNOX — A 1990 Chevrolet pickup truck crashed in Knox early Wednesday morning. The driver was killed but so badly burned, he could not be identified, according to Albany County Sheriff Craig D. Apple.

The truck was traveling west on Route 146 from Albany County and, just before the Schoharie County line, crossed over the double yellow line, went into a ditch, flipped over, and burst into flames, said Apple. No one else was inn the truck.

The gender of the driver could not be determined initially, Apple said, but an autopsy was performed late yesterday afternoon, which indicated it was a male.

The truck was tracked to an owner in Troy, Apple said, that was loaned to someone in Schenectady. “The owner had loaned it to somebody else,” said Apple, “and the person who had it says the vehicle was taken from the driveway in the middle of the night. There was an individual at the house earlier in the night looking for it.”

Apple declined to name the truck’s owner.

The crash occurred between 4 and 5 a.m., he said, and around 9 a.m., as the fatal crash was being investigated, a 9-1-1 call came in.

“A man could hear someone yelling for help from Sawmill Road in Berne,” said Apple. “So, fortunately, we had numerous cars in the area, so we sent a few over and spoke with the person who heard it. There were no broken-down cars in the area; we looked through the woods; then, just to verify, we called in the State Police helicopter.”

Apple concluded, “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to come up with anything — kind of unexplainable.”

— and Zach Simeone