Peshawar: A fuel tanker and a passenger coach collided close to Kohat tunnel in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which left 17 people, including women and children, dead, media reports said.

Initial reports claimed that it was not clear what caused the deadly clash on Thursday night on a highway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reports Pakistan Observer.

The accident sparked an inferno that engulfed part of the vehicles, while some of the passengers also suffered injuries. Soon after the incident, rescue personnel and LEAs rushed to the spot and started shifting the bodies to Civil Hospital Shani Kali Dara Adam Khel, media reports claimed, the newspaper reported.

The crash was so ghastly that the rescue personnel had to cut the coach to retrieve the dead bodies and the wounded trapped inside the coach.