Rio de Janeiro, Dec 12 (IANS/EFE) Three of the four occupants of a car that ran into a horse on a highway in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo died when the animal's body crashed through the windshield and ripped off the entire roof of the vehicle, officials said Saturday.

The accident occurred Friday night at Kilometer 351 (Mile 218) on the regional Comandante Joao Ribeiro de Barros Highway, which connects the cities of Bauru and Marilia, at a place within the jurisdiction of the city of Piratininga, according to the highway police.

The horse was in the middle of an unlighted stretch of road, and the driver, the only survivor of the accident, failed to see it in time to swerve the car away from it.

The impact threw the horse violently against the right side of the windshield, its body went through the glass and crashed through the roof of the vehicle, ripping it off completely.

Two of the victims, identified as Mauricio Jose Marri Furtado and Ana Paula Santucci, died immediately in the crash, while Carlos Henrique Fernandes Furtado was still alive when taken to hospital but died of his injuries at the medical center.

The driver of the automobile, identified as Pedro Henrique Furtado Menin, suffered slight injures and was released from the medical center where he had been taken.

The police said they still have not identified the horse's owner.