At least 35 people were killed and 30 injured when two passenger buses collided Saturday on the road from Deir ez-Zor to Damascus, Syria’s Health Ministry said. State news agency SANA reported that one bus was carrying members of the internal security forces, while the other was a civilian passenger bus. The source did not provide a cause for the crash.

Helicopters from Syria’s Defence Ministry were used to rescue the injured and remove bodies from the scene, according to SANA. The injured and the dead were transferred from Palmyra airport to a military hospital in the city of Homs. The reported casualty figure means at least 65 people were killed or injured in the collision.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa offered condolences to the families of those killed. He also instructed relevant authorities to provide all forms of assistance for responding to the accident and treating the injured. The report did not state the identities of the victims or provide further details about the buses’ routes beyond the Deir ez-Zor-to-Damascus road.