38 killed in bus accident in southeastern Brazil

At least 38 people were killed in a bus crash in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, officials said, in what President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called a "terrible tragedy."

- Agence France-Presse

SAO PAULO:

The accident in Minas Gerais state, involving a bus that caught fire in the collision, was the worst on Brazil's federal highways since 2007, the Federal Highway Police (PRF) told AFP.

Civil police confirmed 38 fatalities with nine people hospitalized. According to preliminary information, a block of granite "possibly" came off a truck traveling in the opposite direction, hitting the bus, the PRF said in a statement.

The truck driver fled the scene, firefighters said.