RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (AFP) The bus, which was carrying workers at a textile factory, collided with the truck early in the morning on a highway outside the town of Taguai, in São Paulo state, police said.
The death toll, initially reported as 32, than as 37 and last as 40 was expected to rise even further, state police said in a statement.
“We know there are more victims in the wreckage of the vehicles, but we don’t know how many,” it said.
A police source told AFP that when rescue workers arrived at the scene, “there were bodies everywhere.”
“It was impossible to tell who had been in the truck and who had been in the bus,” he said.
Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Rescue workers were still treating victims at the scene. Taguai is about 340 kilometers (210 miles) west of São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city and economic capital.
Local media reports said there were 53 people on the bus.
The truck driver reportedly survived the crash.