Seventeen Indonesian pupils died and five others injured Thursday after a truck carrying them to school overturned into a ditch on western Sumatra island.

Seventeen Indonesian pupils died and five others injured Thursday after a truck carrying them to school overturned into a ditch on western Sumatra island, police said.

The truck carrying around 30 students flipped over into the muddy ditch near a palm oil plantation after one of its wheels came off, local police official M. Syafii said.

The age of the students involved in the accident in Tapanuli district was not clear. Most were thought to attend junior high school and high school, where pupils are typically aged between 12 and 18.

Fatal accidents are common on Indonesia's poorly maintained roads. There is little public transport in rural Indonesia and it is common for people to hitch lifts on trucks.