MEXICO CITY (REUTERS) - At least 24 people were killed and nine were injured on Thursday (April 13) in a head-on collision in southwestern Mexico between a bus and a fuel tanker truck which exploded, seriously burning some of the victims, authorities said.

Rescue workers were still clearing the site, said an official for federal police in Petacalco just inside Guerrero state where it borders neighbouring Michoacan.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some of the victims were severely burned after the two vehicles smashed into each other near the Pacific coast.

The state government of Guerrero said in a statement that nine people were injured in addition to the 24 dead.

Police said the bus was traveling to the coast when it hit the tanker, which had left the port of Lazaro Cardenas.

The cause of the collision was not immediately clear, the official said.