A woman was found dead after a car fire on S.C. 46 early Tuesday morning.

Officials with the Bluffton Township Fire District said a car fire broke out at about 2:30 a.m. on the side of the highway, near Big Bluff Road and Linden Plantation Drive.

Battalion Chief Todd Harvey said the small, four-door car was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. After extinguishing the fire, the woman was found.

The woman's cause of death and the cause of the fire is still under investigation. According to a press release from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, the Honda Civic didn't appear to have been in a collision.

Deputy Beaufort County Coroner David Ott said the woman's identity would not be released until an autopsy was performed, which will likely be Wednesday.

Check back with The Island Packet or The Beaufort Gazette for more details as they become available.