A bus crash on Saturday morning took the lives of 15 migrant workers in Dubai, according to reports from the state news agency, WAM.

The bus crashed into a lorry parked on the hard shoulder of a major highway on the outskirts of Dubai, reports say. Nine of the labourers are believed to be Indian, and four are thought to be Bangladeshi.

Survivors of the accident, who were working as welders and fabricators, told reporters from Gulf News of the horrific scenes after the crash.

A similar accident near Al Ain in 2013 killed 22 migrant workers when a gravel truck with faulty breaks slammed into their bus. Most of those on board were Bangladeshi construction workers.

The UAE has one of the highest rates of road accident mortality in the Middle East, and police data for the first nine months of 2013 shows that the on average, one road-related death occurred every 36 hours in Dubai.