A bus Carry foreign students has crashed and killed 13 in Spain

A bus carrying foreign students has crashed and killed 13 people in northeastern Spain and British students are feared to be among the injured.

At least 30 were hurt when the coach collided with a car and overturned on the AP-7 highway near Freginals, about 50 miles (80km) from Tarragona, around 6am local time.

All those killed were women, according to local officials.

The injured, aged between 22 and 29, were from Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Turkey, Ukraine and Barcelona, local media said.

The students were part of the European Union student exchange programme Erasmus.

Of those injured, three are in a critical condition, nine in a serious condition and 22 in a less serious condition, according to a Catalan government website.

Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said two Irish students were among the injured in the crash.

Two of those hurt were travelling in the car. 

The coach, carrying 57 people including the driver, was returning from the renowned Fallas fireworks festival in Valencia when it crashed.

The driver is being held at a police station in the city of Tortosa, according to Jordi Jane, Catalonia's interior minister.

An investigation is looking into the cause of the crash, which happened around halfway between Valencia and Barcelona.

Mr Jane said the coach driver "hit the railing on the right and swerved to the left so violently that the bus veered on to the other side of the highway".

The bus He said most of the passengers were studying at two universities in Barcelona.

Emergency workers are still working to clear the wreckage on the AP7 highway, which runs along Spain's eastern coast.

The Catalan government said work is under way to identify those who have lost their lives. 

Catalonia's newly elected president, Carles Puigdemont, has declared two days of mourning.

He has cancelled a trip to Paris and was heading to the crash site.

The local Catalonian government had urged people who need further information to call +34 900400012.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in contact with the relevant authorities in Spain following the coach crash in Tarragona."then hit a car coming in the opposite direction, he said.