Local authorities in Germany have confirmed that 18 people lost their lives after the bus they were traveling in collided with a lorry.
The incident happened at 7am, local time, near the town of Stammbach, around 90km northeast of Nuremberg.
The crash is one of the worst road tragedies in Germany in recent times.
Thirteen people died when a bus veered off the road and plunged down a slope in the Saxony-Anhalt state in 2007.