Famed boy king Tutankhamun died in a chariot accident that crushed his heart, according to British scientists who used forensics to clear up the ancient mystery, the New York Daily News reports.

Since his death 3,000 years ago, many have speculated as to how the young pharaoh died around age 19.

Scientists now believe that Tutankhamun perished in a chariot accident that shattered many of his bones and crushed his heart.

They have also discovered that the boy king's body was burned while sealed in his coffin due to a potent combination of embalming oils, oxygen and linen. Forensic researchers were surprised to find that the chemical reaction had burned the pharaoh's body at nearly 400-degree heat, The Independent reports.

 "The charring and possibility that a botched mummification led the body to spontaneously combusting shortly after burial was entirely unexpected, something of a revelation," said Dr. Chris Naunton, director of the Egypt Exploration Society.

Naunton had come across references to the damage in research from Howard Carter, who helped to discover the young pharaoh's tomb in 1922, recording that the body had been burned. A piece of the mummy's flesh was scanned with an electron microscope to confirm the cause of the damage.

Researchers performed a "virtual autopsy" revealing injuries down one side of Tutankhamun's body and showing why he was the only pharaoh to be buried without his heart, which had been damaged beyond repair.

Car crash investigators created computer simulations of the likely scenario to figure out how Tutankhamun died. The results suggest that the boy king was on his knees when a chariot smashed into him, shattering his ribs and pelvis and crushing his heart.

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