One man is dead after a tractor-trailer collided with a vehicle stopped in a live lane of traffic on Highway 401 in Etobicoke early this morning.

According to police, officers were dispatched to the westbound lanes of Highway 401 at Martin Grove Road after receiving a number of calls about a car blocking a lane on the highway.

Police say at around 5:15 a.m., the stalled vehicle was sideswiped by another car and about five minutes later, before officers arrived on scene, a transport truck slammed into the stalled car.

The driver of the car, identified by police as 56-year-old Toronto man Cristinel Murariu, was pronounced dead at the scene.

He was the lone occupant of the vehicle, police confirmed.

“We are still trying to investigate and determine exactly what happened prior to the collision that claimed the life of the driver of this car,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said.

Although the transport sustained considerable damage to its front end, Schmidt said the driver of the truck was not injured.

Schmidt said investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the collision to contact Toronto OPP.

“We are just speaking to the driver of the transport truck and several other witnesses that happened to see the collision,” he said earlier Monday morning. “We are appealing for anyone else who may have driven through this area between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. that may have seen a vehicle either in a live lane disabled or any circumstances.

All westbound lanes of the highway were closed at Martin Grove Road as the collision reconstruction unit conducted their investigation.

The highway reopened at around 10 a.m.

The cause of the crash has not yet been released.