From correspondents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 08:30 AM IST

At least 17 people have been killed and 15 injured when a truck they were travelling in flipped over on a highway in southeastern Brazil, EFE news agency reported Wednesday, citing police officials.

The accident occurred Tuesday in San Antonio do Amparo municipality of Brazil's Minas Gerais province when the truck carrying 32 farm workers flipped over on the highway linking the cities of Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

'Everything indicates that the truck lost its brakes, crashed into the barrier and flipped over, causing the deaths ... including the driver,' federal police inspector Ailton Pereira told Globonews television.

He said that the people injured in the accident were taken to a nearby hospital.

The workers were returning to their homes after harvesting beans at a coffee plantation in the in San Antonio do Amparo.

An investigation into the cause of the accident has been ordered.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)