At least 10 people have died and 42 others have been injured in a horrific bus crash.
Shocking pictures show how a tourist bus was completely obliterated on one side after it ploughed into a concrete bridge pillar on a major motorway in Brazil.
The devastating impact ripped through the vehicle, leaving debris scattered across the road near the town of Itapetininga, around 105 miles west of Sao Paulo.
Emergency services rushed to the scene on the Francisco da Silva Pontes highway shortly after midnight local time today (4am UK time).
An accident report drawn up by the state’s transport department said the driver had reported a mechanical failure which caused him to lose control of the bus.
‘There were 52 victims, of which 10 died on the scene,’ an official of the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) of Sao Paulo told AFP.
Firefighters had to cut free a number of people who were trapped inside the bus.
Casualties were taken to hospitals in Itapetininga and the neighbouring city Sorocaba, the authorities said in a statement.
At least five of the survivors reportedly suffered serious injuries.
The bus had been en route from Itapeva to Aparecida, a religious town known to attract many pilgrims to its Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida.
Earlier this week, nine were killed and four others were injured when a car mowed down a group of people in the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Last week, six people died and five were injured when a bus crashed into a moving train in Slovakia.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
