According to Italian news reports, a coach bus has crashed, leaving 38 killed.

The crash took place in the Campania region, near Avellino. News reports say that the bus was ‘badly out of control.'

"The situation is critical," leading fireman Pellegrino Landolo told Italian television.

"Our men are working to save as many lives as possible."

After hitting several cars, the coach plunged off, injuring at least ten. It was returning from a pilgrimage taking 50 adults and children back to Naples.

The Naples-Bari road has been blocked and a police spokesman said that an official death toll could not be determined.

"We are still pulling people from the vehicle," he was reported as saying by BBC News.

Although authorities are unsure about the nature of the accident, reports suggest that the bus went through a guardrail on a flyover falling 30 metres and landing in a wooded area. An eyewitness account from Sky Italia said that the bus was traveling at a normal speed, when one of its tires broke.

Daily Express photo

Most of those killed were children, said police.

And a reporter for Italian news agency, Ansa said photographer Cesare Abbate, was at the scene of the accident where 30 people had white sheets over them.