JOHANNESBURG (REUTERS) - Twenty nine people died and several others were injured after a bus collided with a truck in South Africa, the government said on Tuesday.

The accident happened in the country's eastern Mpumalanga province on Monday night.

"Twenty nine people were killed and scores of injured passengers were taken to a nearby hospital," the government said in a statement.

Road use is the primary means of travel in Africa's largest economy, and the government has introduced tough laws to clamp down on reckless driving and poorly maintained vehicles as it tries to curb an annual toll of 14,000 deaths.

At least 22 people were killed in March when a double-decker bus crashed into the side of a mountain while navigating the dangerous Hex River Pass 140 km northeast of Cape Town.