QUITO - At least 16 people died and 40 more were injured early Wednesday morning when two passenger buses crashed on a highway communicating the provinces of Guayas and Manabi in southwest Ecuador, local media reported.

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The accident occurred in "Las Aguas" precinct of Isidro Ayora district, north of Guayas, police sources were quoted as saying.

Both buses belong to Coactur cooperative, and according to separate official sources, both of the drivers died in the accident.

Rescuers of the Ecuadorian Red Cross have sent the injured to different local hospitals, said the report.