38 die in bus accident in Brazil

SAO PAULO:

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."

The accident in Minas Gerais state, involving a bus that caught fire in the collision, is the worst seen on Brazil's federal highways since 2007, according to police data cited by local media.

In their latest report, civil police confirmed 38 fatalities with eight people hospitalized.

Conflicting accounts of the accident have emerged: firefighters initially said the bus at around 3:30 am had blown a tire near the town of Lajinha, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle and hit a truck. Another vehicle also hit the bus from behind, officials said, but its occupants survived.

However, firefighters later cited witnesses as saying that a granite block being transported by the truck fell onto the bus, causing the accident.

After the crash, the bus, which had been making its way from Sao Paulo to Vitoria da Conquista, in the northeastern Bahia state, caught fire.