Dozens of passengers were injured when a bus crashed into a trailer truck along a mountain road in Thailand.

The coach was travelling along Highway 103 when it slammed into the oncoming truck reportedly straddling both lanes of the road in Phrae province, early morning on November 5.

Police Major Supakrit Thanamahattham of the Song Police Station said they were informed that a bus had fallen from a ravine at around 6:15 am.

He said: 'Initially, it was learned that the bus was travelling from Bangkok to the Chiang Saen District,and there was a little unseasonal rain in Song District. The crash site was a wet downhill road.'

Police arrived to inspect the scene, where the damaged bus was lying on its side after crashing into a roadside post.

The truck was obstructing the road, with sacks of rice spilled across the pavement.

Authorities said the collision caused a three-hour traffic jam stretching across three miles. Rescuers secured the bus onto several electricity poles to keep it from falling further down 98ft ravine.

At least 49 people were injured - one severely - and taken to different hospitals.

The survivors said they feared they would die, as many of them were flung to the back of the bus during the collision.

Police said the exact cause of the crash was being investigated.

Thailand has one of the world's worst road safety records. Ministers have set the goal of reducing fatalities from 32.7 deaths per 100,000 people to 12 per 100,000 people by the year 2027.

However, a lack of road safety education in schools along with notoriously easy driving tests, police failures to enforce road laws, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure, all appear to hamper the efforts.