Preliminary investigations suggest that the brakes failed as the truck was going downhill and it slammed into the bus during the early morning rush on Wednesday near the central city of Miranda, said William Martinez, commander of the national fire service.
The head-on collision destroyed the bus, and rescue crews had to cut through the steel frame of the vehicle to reach some of the victims as traffic backed up for miles.
Details on the conditions of the injured passengers were not immediately available. They were taken to hospitals near the crash scene, about 50 kilometers east of Caracas.