At least 17 people died in northeast Brazil when a bus that had been travelling on the wrong side of the road went out of control and flipped, police said on Saturday.

The tragedy took place late on Friday in Pernambuco state, when the driver of the vehicle with 30 people aboard hit some rocks on the side of the road as he drove in the wrong lane, a police statement said.

The bus returned to the correct lane, but then crashed into an embankment before flipping over, the statement said.

Some of the passengers were ejected from the bus. The number of injuries was not immediately known.

The driver emerged with only slight injuries and tested negative for alcohol, police said.

The bus has been traveling from the town of Brumado to Santa Cruz do Capibaribe.

"To the families and friends of the victims, I express my sincere condolences and solidarity at this time of great pain," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on social media platform X. (AFP)