A double-decker bus crashed into a tree and split in two in southern Thailand, with the death toll so far at least 14 dead and 32 injured, police said.

The long-distance bus was traveling from Bangkok to the southern tip of the kingdom when it crashed into the tree in the coastal province of Prachuap Khiri Khan on Monday night.

Photos released to the press show the vehicle cut in two due to the severity of the collision, with the tree having penetrated part of it and been pinned inside the vehicle.

“According to the first, still preliminary data, 14 people are dead and 32 injured,” a police officer told AFP, adding that an investigation into the crash was underway.

The causes of the fatal accident have not been clarified, but the police suspect that the bus driver – seriously injured, but survived – was sleepless.

“We are working with the hospital to ascertain his blood alcohol level,” the police officer said.

Among other things, the police are trying to verify if all the victims are Thai or if there are foreigners among them.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of fatal road accidents in the world. Some 20,000 people are killed each year on the kingdom’s roads, according to the World Health Organization.