In pictures: Italy bus crash

epa03805911 General view of the crash site after approximately thirty died in a bus accident in Avellino, Italy, 28 July 2013. The bus after colliding with several cars fell off from the elevated highway A16, Naples-Canosa. EPA/CESARE ABBATE *** Local Caption *** 03805911.jpg

Police said the bus driver, for reasons not yet determined, appeared to have lost control of his vehicle. AFP Photo

Flashing signs near Avellino, outside Naples, had warned of slowed traffic along the stretch of the A116 autostrada, a major motorway crossing southern Italy, before the crash occurred, said motorway police and officials. AFP Photo

Hours after the crash, firefighters said that so far they had pulled out 36 bodies and 11 injured people from the mangled wreckage of the bus, which lie on side in a clearance in a wooded area near a road after smashing through a guardrail and plunging so???

Most of the passengers were from the Campania area around Naples, ANSA said.

The bus dove off the motorway near the town of Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia, a largely agricultural area about 60 kilometres inland from Naples and about 250 kilometres south of Rome. Gregorio Borgia / AP Photo

A local prosecutor arrived at the crash scene to begin an investigation into the cause of the crash. Ciro De Luca / Reuters