10 Dead, 31 Injured in Brazil Student Bus Crash

At least 10 people were killed and 31 injured when a bus carrying students on a hiking trip crashed in Brazil, police said Tuesday.

"They were traveling on a bus for a school trip," a police spokesman told AFP.

Authorities said 16 of the injured were in serious condition.

The bus was traveling late Monday from Sao Paulo to Borborema when it collided with an oncoming freight truck, killing 10 people instantly, according to Brazil's G1 news site.

The truck was carrying vegetable oil and a fire erupted after the crash, which took firefighters two hours to control, G1 reported.

The news site said an 11th body, badly charred, had been found Tuesday morning, but police were unable to confirm the report.

Police could not confirm the identities of the dead.

G1 reported six students between the ages of 15 and 17, three teachers and a school director may have been among those killed.

There were three buses traveling for the school trip and the buses were returning to Sao Paulo at the time of the crash, Borborema's education secretary Maria Angela Martins told G1.

The injured were taken to nearby hospitals in Borborema, where three days of mourning was declared.

"The city is providing assistance, it is a very difficult time," Martins said.

The bus, carrying 42 passengers, had its side torn off in the violent crash. The other two buses on the trip were not involved in the crash.