A freight truck collided with a bus on a highway near the South Korean capital Seoul on Thursday, causing a fire that killed at least five people and injured 37 others, officials said.

It wasn’t immediately known what caused the collision and fire, nor what cargo the truck was carrying.

The National Fire Agency said in a statement that three of the injured were in serious conditions while 34 others were lightly injured. Fire officials said the collision occurred inside a noise-barrier tunnel on the highway.

DRAMATIC IMAGES SHOW PEOPLE TRYING TO FLEE MASSIVE FIRE AT CAMBODIA HOTEL CASINO THAT LEFT AT LEAST 16 DEAD

South Korea fire

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire on a highway in Gwacheon, South Korea, on Dec. 29, 2022. The fire killed five people and injured 37 others. (Kim Jong-taik/Newsis via AP)

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Earlier TV footage showed thick black plumes of smoke billowing from the tunnel, but fire officials said later they'd almost put out the blaze.

The public affairs office at the fire agency couldn’t immediately confirm where the five dead came from.