At least 14 people were killed, dozens of others injured when a passenger bus slammed into a slowly moving truck on a highway in southwestern Egypt, officials and local media reported.

The crash took place late Wednesday in the New Valley province, according to local Gov. Mohamed el-Zamlout. Twenty-five others were injured, he added in a statement.

Seventeen ambulances were dispatched to the accident scene to transfer victims to nearby hospitals and morgues, he added.

The statement did not elaborate on what caused the crash.

A local daily, el-Shorouk, quoted an unnamed official as saying that the bus slammed into the truck which was "nearly parking" on the road. It reported that the bus was carrying 45 people heading to the capital, Cairo.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. The collisions are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.