At least 14 people have been killed in a collision involving a bus and a logging truck in central Russia, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations said late Thursday.

Traffic police in Russia's Mariy El region said the truck and bus crashed on Thursday evening outside the regional capital, Yoshkar Ola.

Mariy El Governor Alexander Yevstigneyev said on Rossiya 24 television that the bus drove into oncoming traffic lane as it was trying to overtake another vehicle and ended up crashing into the logging truck.

Police suggested earlier that weather might have been a factor. Heavy snow was reported in the area earlier in the day.

The Tass news agency quoted staff members at a hospital in Yoshkar Ola saying five people are hospitalized, two of them in grave condition.