EVERETT — Two people were killed when the pickup truck they were riding in collided with a City of Everett trash truck on a major roadway during the Wednesday morning commute.

The vehicles collided near the intersection of Broadway and Dunster Road around 8:39 a.m., according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office and Everett Police Chief Steven Mazzie.

Ryan’s office said the pickup truck was carrying three people: the driver, a male passenger, and a female passenger.

First responders removed the two passengers and rushed them to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

The driver of the pickup truck remained hospitalized late Wednesday, with serious injuries, officials said.

The driver of the trash truck was being treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.

Tom Philbin, communications director for the city, said the employee who was driving the trash truck was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital.

He has worked for the city for three years, and was described as a “very conscientious’’ worker.

A man who lives around the corner said he heard the vehicles smashing into each other.

“It sounded like a bomb went off . . . very loud,’’ he said.

He was wasn’t sure what the noise was at first, until he heard the sound of fire engines arriving.

A woman who lives nearby on Broadway said she heard the sound of a vehicle accelerating right before the crash. “Then boom. That’s it,’’ she said. “I said, ‘Oh my God.’ ’’

She said this section of Broadway gets a lot of traffic. She thinks the city should do something to make it safer, possibly by installing a traffic light.

She was interviewed as she stood on the sidewalk with other onlookers, glancing over at the mangled vehicles beyond the yellow police tape.

“It’s a shame,’’ she said. “It really is a shame.’’

The names of the people killed and the two drivers were not released.

The cause of the crash remained under investigation Wednesday by state and Everett police as well as by Ryan’s office.

Emily Sweeney can be reached at emily.sweeney@globe.com.