Nineteen people, including six women, were killed when a Kerala state government bus collided head-on with a container lorry near Tamil Nadu's Avanashi town in Tirupur district, 40 kms from here, on Thursday, officials said.

The bus was going to Thiruvananthapuram from Bengaluru, while the lorry was coming from the opposite direction on the Coimbator-Salem Highway when the mishap occurred at 4.30 am, police said Of the 48 passengers in the bus, 19 died on the spot and remaining sustained injuries.