BANDUNG, Nov 14 — Seven people were killed as two passenger buses collided on a busy toll road in Indonesia today, authorities said.

The fatal accident, which also left 16 people injured — some seriously — happened shortly after midnight on a route in West Java that connects to the capital Jakarta.

One bus driver lost control of his vehicle, which crossed a road median before slamming into another bus travelling in the opposite direction, killing seven including its driver and injuring more than a dozen onboard, according to West Java police spokesman Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko.

The driver who lost control of the bus was injured, but none of his passengers were hurt, he added.

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The cause of the accident was not immediately known.

Traffic accidents are common in the South-east Asian archipelago, where vehicles are often old and poorly maintained and road rules regularly flouted.

In September, at least 21 people died when a bus plunged into a ravine in West Java's Sukabumi region.

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Several months earlier, 12 people were killed and dozens more injured when a passenger tried to wrest control of a bus steering wheel following an argument with the driver on the same toll road in West Java as today's accident. The bus smashed into two cars, causing a truck to roll. — AFP