At least 40 other people were injured in the accident late Friday in Madhya Pradesh state’s Rewa district, police said.
The bus was carrying at least 60 passengers when it rammed into a stationary truck that had just collided with another truck on the highway, police officer Navneet Bhasin told reporters.
Most of the passengers were labourers travelling to their homes in the neighbouring northern state of Uttar Pradesh to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, Bhasin said.
The injured were taken to a hospital for treatment.
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India’s President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted their condolences Saturday.
India has some of the highest road death rates in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people killed and injured annually.
Most crashes are blamed on reckless driving, poorly maintained roads and aging vehicles.
