KIEV, Dec 7 — Thirteen people died and another seven were injured when a minibus collided with a lorry in northern Ukraine today, officials said.

The minibus was travelling from the city of Chernigiv to the village of Borzna in the Chernigiv region when it hit the lorry, Ukraine’s state emergency service said.

"As a result of the accident, 13 people were killed and seven hospitalised with injuries of varying degrees of severity,” it said in a statement.

It added that 30 rescuers were working at the scene of the accident.

Pictures released by the emergency service showed a lorry with its front crushed blocking the road diagonally, stopped next to an entirely crushed minibus on the hard shoulder.

Officials did not say what caused the accident. But disregard for traffic rules and poor road conditions kill thousands of people in ex-Soviet Ukraine every year. — AFP