NEW GLOUCESTER – The driver of an SUV burned to death Tuesday morning after a near head-on collision with a box truck on Route 26, police said.

Police believe the victim is a Cumberland man but said positive identification will not be finalized until today when the State Medical Examiner examines the body.

The southbound Ford Explorer crossed the centerline and struck a box truck nearly head-on around 9:30 a.m. about a mile from the Gray line at the top of a hill, state police Lt. Walter Grzyb said. The driver of the truck, Frederick L. Capen of Lancaster, Mass., tried to avoid the collision, Grzyb said.

Capen scraped his knee and sprained his thumb, and was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

There were no passengers in the SUV.

State police Sgt. Michael Edes tried but failed to put out the blaze in the SUV by emptying two fire extinguishers from his cruiser into the flames, Grzyb said. Edes used a third fire extinguisher given to him later, but still was unable to rescue the driver from the blaze that eventually burned itself out.

The road was closed into the afternoon and traffic detoured onto side streets.

A state police team tried to reconstruct the accident to determine why the SUV crossed into the oncoming lane, Grzyb said. He said Capen did nothing to cause the accident.

The road was dry at the time.