A coach has plunged down a ravine in southern Italy killing at least 38 people.
It hit several other vehicles before smashing through a barrier and plunging 30 metres down a steep slope near the town of Avellino, in the Campania region.
At least 11 people have also been injured, some of them seriously, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.
The coach was reported to be taking 50 people, mainly children, back to Naples following a holiday.
The Naples-Bari motorway has been closed to traffic because of the accident and the injured have been taken to hospitals in Avellino, Salerno and Nola, Ansa said.
The driver of the coach is said to be among the dead.
"The situation is critical," leading fireman Pellegrino Iandolo told Italian television. "Our men are working to save as many lives as possible."
