“We wake up to the sad news of this tragedy that killed 12 students in a terrible accident involving a bus and a truck,” state governor Tarcisio Freitas wrote on X.

Sao Paulo civil defence authorities said in a statement that 21 injured people were taken to hospital after the crash late yesterday, but most were released.

One of the injured suffered from “cranial trauma” and three others were hospitalized and are in a stable condition.

Freitas said the students were returning home from the private University of Franca when the accident occurred.

“They saw their dreams cut short,” he said.

A statement from the state government said the truck driver had been “charged with fleeing the scene, negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm”.

In December 2024, 41 people died in a bus crash in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the worst accident on Brazil’s federal highways since 2007.