At least 37 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a crash involving two buses in the western Potosi region of Bolivia, police and local authorities have said.

The accident happened on Saturday at 7am local time (11:00 GMT) on the route between the cities of Uyuni and Colchani, when one of the vehicles swerved into the oncoming lane.

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Uyuni is the gateway to the Salar de Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat at more than 10,000sq km (3,900sq miles).

“As a result of this fatal accident we have 39 people injured in four hospitals in the town of Uyuni, and 37 people have lost their lives,” a spokesperson for the Departmental Police Command of Potosi told reporters.

Police personnel are working to identify people who were killed and those who were injured and hospitalised, the spokesperson added.

One of the buses was heading to Oruro, where one of the most important carnival celebrations in Latin America is currently taking place.

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Police officers removed survivors from the steel wreckage, according to images shot by Radio Uyuni, which showed several bodies covered in blankets strewn across the high Andean flatlands.

A police spokesperson said one of the two drivers, who both survived the crash, was spotted by passengers consuming alcohol.

Bolivia’s mountainous, under-maintained and little-supervised roadways are some of the deadliest in the world, killing an average of 1,400 people every year.