A bus was seen veering off the road and plunging down an embankment on a steep mountain pass in northern South Africa.

The incident resulted in the death of at least 42 people and left close to 49 more injured as confirmed by authorities today.

The crash arose at about 6pm on Sunday on the N1 highway near the town of Louis Trichardt, around 400 km north of the capital city of Pretoria.

The Transport Ministry mentioned in a statement that the victims included seven kids, 17 men, and 18 women. It shared how six people were critically injured and another 31 had some serious injuries and were rushed to different hospitals. One critically injured child was airlifted to the hospital, the ministry mentioned.

Pictures shared by authorities showed the giant blue bus lying upside down in the embankment with rescuers working underneath it to look for victims.

The Limpopo provincial government mentioned more about rescue operations continuing late into the hours of Sunday. The bus was believed to be on its way to Zimbabwe and was carrying nationals of both Zimbabwe and Malawi as they were on their way home, the Transport Ministry added. As of right now, the cause of the crash is not known.