The collision happened around 50km east of the capital Bangkok as the bus passengers were on their way to a temple in Chachoengsao province for a ceremony to mark the end of Buddhist Lent, said a district police chief.

“The death toll we have so far is 17,” said the police official, adding that the accident occurred at around 8am, AFP reported.

Provincial governor Maitree Tritilanond told reporters that so far about 29 people were injured.

Early images by rescue workers showed gnarled metal and debris, with bodies lying by the train tracks and people’s belongings scattered.

The bus was overturned on its side, the top of it ripped off, and rescue workers said a crane was needed to lift it.

The number of casualties and injured is expected to rise.

Such deadly accidents are common in Thailand, which regularly tops lists of the world’s most lethal roads, with speeding, drunk driving and weak law enforcement all contributing factors.

According to a 2018 report by the World Health Organization, Thailand has the second-highest traffic fatality rate in the world.

Though a majority of the victims are motorcyclists, bus crashes involving groups of tourists and migrant laborers often grab headlines.

In March 2018, at least 18 people were killed and dozens wounded when a bus carrying people returning from a holiday in north-eastern Thailand swerved off the road and smashed into a tree.

Firefighters and rescue teams were informed of the crash at 2:10 am local time on Tuesday, spokesman for the Tehran Fire Department told Tasnim, saying the bus was carrying 38 people when it crashed on a road linking Tehran to the northern parts of the country.

The bus had veered off the road for unknown reasons and fallen at least 100 meters into a ravine, Jalal Maleki added.

The crash had ripped off the roof of the bus and passenger were strewn over the area, he added.

Eleven people have been killed in the crash, and 27 others are badly wounded, the spokesman added.

According to the figures released by World Atlas in September 2016, Iran is ranked 4th in the list of countries with the highest road traffic death rates.

The estimated road traffic death rate per 100,000 people in Iran was 34.1.

The crash happened at around 4 am local time near the city of Darab, some 170 km southeast of the province’s capital of Shiraz.

The bus, carrying schoolgirls from the neighboring province of Hormozgan, was travelling to Shiraz and went off the road near Rostaq county.

The girls on board the doomed bus were mainly from the cities of Minab and Rouadan, and were part of a convoy of 126 students traveling to Shiraz to attend a conference of talented students, an official said.

Ambulances and helicopters were used to rescue the victims, some of whom are in critical conditions.

The death toll is expected to rise.