WATERLOO REGION — A 40-year-old Kitchener man is dead after police say he drove his minivan the wrong way on Highway 401 and struck a tractor trailer Sunday night.

Cambridge OPP began receiving calls around 8:30 p.m. about a vehicle that had pulled onto Highway 401 and started driving the wrong way near Cedar Creek Road. Moments later, callers were reporting the van was involved in a serious head-on collision with a tractor trailer hauling canola.

Emergency crews from Kitchener and North Dumfries arrived at the scene to find the cab of the tractor trailer engulfed in flames.

The cab of the truck hauling a tandem trailer was reduced to a pile of charred wreckage. Only the smoke stack was still recognizable. But the driver, a man from Earlton, in northern Ontario, escaped unharmed, calling 911 from his cellphone.

The Caravan came to rest on the shoulder of the westbound lanes, virtually unrecognizable. The male driver was trapped inside before being freed by firefighters. He was transported to Cambridge Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His name is not being released until family has been notified.

All lanes of Highway 401 were closed for a time between Cedar Creek and Homer Watson Boulevard. The eastbound lanes reopened after about an hour and westbound lanes have since been reopened. Some vehicles caught between Homer Watson and the crash scene were left idling for about three hours.

At one point there were as many as eight fire trucks on scene.

OPP Const. Sara Havekes said it was fortunate that Sunday night traffic was light and only two vehicles were involved in the head-on crash.

This morning police were still investigating and appealing to any witnesses to come forward.

Sgt. Dave Woodford said investigators are trying to determine why the man got on the highway in the wrong direction.

Anyone with information is asked to call 519-654-0150.