A bus has crashed into a truck in northern Ghana, killing at least 53 people, police say.

The Metro Mass Transit coach reportedly collided head-on with a cargo truck carrying tomatoes near the town of Kintampo on Wednesday evening.

Regional police chief Maxwell Atingane told Reuters news agency that many passengers died at the scene.

He said police were investigating the cause of the crash, believed to be one of the worst in many years.

Joy News, a Ghanaian website, reported that a passenger told police that the bus had been experiencing brake problems.

At least 23 people are being treated at a local hospital.

The coach was full of passengers and travelling north from Kumasi, the second largest city after Accra, the capital.

Anger has spread against some people on social media who shared horrific pictures of the aftermath, the BBC's Sammy Darko said in Accra.

Emergency services are said to have worked for hours to try to free passengers trapped in the wreckage.

President John Mahama offered his condolences to "those who've lost loved ones" via Twitter.