MANILA, July 11, 2024 (BSS/Xinhua) - A passenger bus collided with a pickup truck along a highway in Cagayan province in the northern Philippines early Thursday, killing at least 11 people and injuring six others, police said.

Police Major Antonio Palattao, the police chief of Abulug town, in which the accident occurred, told a radio interview that the bus was traveling south when it crashed into the truck that entered the junction of the main highway.

Palattao said the impact of the crash dragged the truck "more or less 20 meters," throwing off its passengers into the road.

Palattao said rescue workers retrieved the bodies of 11 truck passengers. They were taken to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

He said the truck's driver was "seriously" injured, while a pedestrian, two truck passengers, the bus driver and his assistant sustained minor injuries.

Palattao said that a follow-up probe on the incident is ongoing.