At least 38 people have been killed in a bus-truck collision in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, police said.

It is the deadliest road accident in Brazil since 2007, with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva saying he was shocked by the “terrible tragedy”.

In the most recent press briefing, the police confirmed the death of 38 people, adding that nine injured are hospitalized in critical condition. The dead included the bus driver and at least one child, according to firefighters, who needed a crane to free the charred bodies from the mangled sheet metal.

According to the prevailing scenario for the causes of the accident, a block of granite fell from the truck onto the road and hit the bus traveling in the opposite direction of traffic. Another car crashed into the back of the lorry, but the three occupants escaped with “serious injuries”.

Many of the bodies recovered from the wreckage of the bus are charred, due to the fire that broke out during the fierce collision. Therefore, the process of identifying the victims is difficult, explained a representative of the Fire Department.

“I pray for the families of the more than 30 victims of the accident in (city) Teofilo Otoni of (state) Minas Gerais,” President Lula wrote in a post on the X platform (formerly Twitter). “I pray for the recovery of the survivors of this terrible tragedy,” he added.

In 2023, Brazil ranked third in the world in terms of road traffic deaths, behind India and China, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) road safety report.

In late November, 17 people were killed when a bus plunged into a cliff in Alagoas state in northeastern Brazil.