Dec. 21 (UPI) — A truck and a passenger bus collision killed 38 and injured 13 others during an early-morning crash Saturday in southeastern Brazil.

The bus was carrying 45 passengers when it departed Sao Paulo and afterward struck the truck on a highway in Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais.

First responders from the Minas Gerais fire department responded to the accident scene and said 38 were killed and 13 injured passengers were taken to hospitals located near Teofilo Otoni, which is about 600 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.

“Our security forces have been working without interruption since dawn and throughout the morning to quickly respond to the incident,” Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema said in a translated post on X.

Zema said the accident occurred on highway BR-116 in Teofilo Otoni.

Accident victims were removed from the scene by Saturday afternoon and an investigation is underway to determine its cause.

Some witnesses said the bus blew a tire, which caused it to veer into the path of a truck carrying blocks of granite.

A car carrying three passengers also struck the bus, but all three survived.