Updated | Forty-two people were killed in a collision between a bus and a truck in southwestern France early on Friday, French officials have said.

The vehicles are reported to have collided head-on and then burst into flames around 8 am local time. The two drivers were killed, as well as at least 46 passengers of the bus. Five passengers escaped with injuries while three were unharmed, according to The Guardian.

The accident took place near the commune of Libourne, in the region of Gironde, east of the city of Bordeaux. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are heading to the site of the crash.

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French President Francois Hollande called the accident an "immense tragedy," in a statement released by his office.

The coach was carrying a bus full of pensioners on a trip, the regional Sud Ouest newspaper reported.

"It was a bus carrying elderly people," Mael Gohaud, a spokesman for the Gironde Prefecture, told CNN. "There are five people who are injured, and three people safe."

It is the worst road accident in France since 1982 when 53 people died in a crash in the central region of Burgundy.