At least five people were killed and a dozen others were wounded when a bus veered off a German motorway near Leipzig on Wednesday.

The bus came off the A9 motorway and overturned in the morning between Wiedemar and the Schkeuditzer Kreuz motorway junction, police said.

"Several people were fatally injured in the serious accident on the A9 motorway. There are numerous casualties," police in the state of Saxony said on social media platform X.

Emergency services attended to the injured at the scene and the motorway was closed in both directions, German authorities said.

The bus belonged to German travel company Flixbus and was on its way from Berlin to Zurich, Flixbus said in a statement.

There were 53 passengers and two drivers on board, the budget operator said.

"The exact circumstances of the accident are not yet known," Flixbus said.

"We are of course working closely with the local authorities and the emergency services on site and will do everything in our power to clarify the cause of the accident quickly and completely," it said.