Johannesburg - More than 20 people were feared to have died in when a bus crashed into a bridge in South Africa's north-eastern Mpumalanga province, police said Tuesday evening.

The accident took place near the border with Swaziland. The cause of the crash and the exact number of passengers and fatalities were still unknown as police had yet to reach the scene of the accident.

South Africa's has among the highest rates of road fatalities in the world. Over 15,000 people were killed on the roads in 2006, the last year for which final annual statistics are provided on a government website. (dpa)