(CNN) -- A group of men who devoted their lives to hunting powerful storms died in the middle of the chase.
Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras, and Carl Young were killed while following a tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, relatives told CNN on Sunday. They were among nine people killed in storms that struck Oklahoma on Friday night.
Their work tracking tornadoes was featured on the former Discovery Channel show "Storm Chasers."
"They all unfortunately passed away but doing what they loved," Jim Samaras wrote in a statement posted on his brother's Facebook page.
At the intersection where authorities said the three men were killed, crews hauled away a mangled white truck Sunday that had been crushed like a tin can. The metal frame was twisted almost beyond recognition. The windows had been smashed to bits.
Canadian County Undersheriff Chris West confirmed that three storm chasers had been killed, but declined to provide additional details about the circumstances of their deaths.
"We also want to say that storm chasers and meteorologists and news stations, that's part of the vital link in getting the word out to people so that they don't become victims," he said. "A lot of these individuals have dedicated many years of their lives to going out and assisting and tracking storms, and getting footage and putting themselves in harm's way so they can educate the public to the destructive power of these storms."
Tim Samaras founded TWISTEX, the Tactical Weather Instrumented Sampling in Tornadoes Experiment, to help learn more about tornadoes and increase lead time for warnings, according to the official website.
In 2004, he told CNN that being near storms was part of the job.
"In order to get directly in the path, you have to be close," he said.
"Actually I'm pretty focused on our safety, certainly, and I'm focused on getting the data and getting the right spot," he said. "You only have one chance to do it."
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