Tragedy for Purdue University and the Boilermakers’ famous mascot … it’s been involved in a deadly crash in Indiana.

Purdue’s mascot — the Boilermaker Special — was involved in an accident Thursday that claimed one life and put two people in the hospital … according to multiple reports.

The Boilermaker Special looks like a locomotive, but it’s actually a truck customized to look like a steam locomotive from the Victorian era.

Two people riding in the Boilermaker Special were hospitalized and then discharged … but the person in the other vehicle died as a result of the crash.

Law enforcement says the Boilermaker Special appears to have suffered a possible tire malfunction and crossed the center line, crashing into the other car head-on.

The victim here has yet to be identified.