AT LEAST 38 people have been killed in a horror crash after a packed bus collided with a lorry in Brazil before bursting into flames.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva described the fatal smash as a “terrible tragedy” with harrowing images showing the burnt out bus left on the side of the road.
The coach, carrying 45 passengers, caught on fire after one of its tyres suddenly blew out and sent the motor out of control, horrified witnesses said.
The driver battled to keep it on the road before it ploughed into an oncoming lorry.
Dozens of the passengers were ultimately killed along with the driver as the bus smashed off the concrete road.
Moments later the impact sparked a deadly inferno.
Footage shows firefighters putting out the burning bus wreckage as it laid on the side of the busy main road in the country’s eastern state of Minas Gerais.
Other onlookers also told rescue teams that the bus hit a granite block as it spiralled out of control.
The lorry was left in a severely damaged state with pictures showing it appeared to collide with a separate car just seconds after the initial crash.
The small car was crushed underneath the weight of the truck but the driver and two passengers are said to have miraculously escaped.
The truck driver later fled the scene, say local media.
Another 13 people were taken to hospital following the crash, the local fire department said.
Mr da Silva added in a statement: “I deeply regret and send my prayers to the families of the more than 30 fatalities from the accident in Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais.
“I pray for the recovery of the survivors of this terrible tragedy.”
Local governor Romeu Zema wrote on X that he had ordered “full mobilisation” of the Minas Gerais government to help the victim’s loved ones.
More than 10,000 people have tragically died in traffic accidents in Brazil this year alone.
It comes just months after three people were killed in a horrific bus crash carrying a Brazilian football team to a championship game.
Local media claims the trio who died were players from the American football team the Coritiba Crocodiles of the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba.
In May, Brazilian country music star Ana Paula Vieira was killed alongside her boyfriend in a horrifying head-on car crash.
The 27-year-old was driving home with her partner Marcelo Stocco, 32, after performing her final gig in Cacoal when they collided with a tractor-trailer – leaving the car mangled at the side of the highway.
