Barcelona (AFP) - A bus carrying foreign students crashed in northeastern Spain on Sunday (March 20), killing 14 people and injuring 43, regional authorities in Catalonia said.

The students were enrolled at Barcelona University as part of the European Erasmus exchange programme, said Ms Jordi Jane, who heads interior matters for the Catalonia region.

The accident occurred near the small town of Freginals, about 150 kilometres south of Barcelona as the bus was returning from a traditional festival in the eastern city of Valencia.