At least 13 people were killed on Sunday when a trailer and what appeared to be a box truck collided and caught fire on a highway in northeast Mexico's Tamaulipas state, the state Secretariat of Public Security said, Azernews reports citing Xinhua.

The accident occurred in the morning at km 80 of Highway 83, along the Hidalgo-Zaragoza stretch, the agency said in a press release.

The crash destroyed the vehicles and sparked a large fire that left charred bodies at the site, where Civil Protection officials and paramedics from the Red Cross arrived to attend to the injured.

The highway remained open to traffic but state authorities have called for driving with caution, and respecting speed limits and signs.