At least 36 people have died in a multiple pile-up in Peru.

Around 70 people are also reported to be injured after a bus drifted into the opposite lane.

The bus, operated by the Murga Serrano line, was hit by three vehicles coming in the opposite direction - two buses and a truck.

The vehicle was carrying a delegation from the Christian organisation the Worldwide Missionary Movement, it is reported.

The accident took place before dawn on the Pan American Highway near Huarmey, about 200 miles (320km) north of the capital, Lima.

"Initial investigations indicate that the driver who drifted into the opposite lane may have fallen asleep and collided with another bus," Oscar Gonzalez, who was in charge of the rescue operation, told Reuters.

The authorities sent several ambulances to the scene.

Road traffic accidents are common in Peru, with 2,514 deaths reported on the roads in 2010, according to the World Health Organization.

This latest incident is the country's most serious since October 2013, when 51 people were killed in a makeshift bus, which fell into a ravine.