Five people were seriously injured in a crash between two buses in south England's Brighton city on Monday morning, local police said.

Two of the five injured people sustained life-threatening injuries, said the Sussex Police.

It was declared a "major incident" by the South East Coast Ambulance Service and police have advised drivers to avoid the city center for the next few hours.

Emergency services were called to the scene at Queen's Road, near the Clock Tower, at 9:22 a.m. local time (0822 GMT), and traffic in central Brighton was likely to be disrupted throughout the morning, police said.

Apart from the five seriously injured, six to eight people were believed to be "walking wounded" with minor injuries. A walk-in center for the injured has been set up at the top of Queen's Road near the railway station.

The city's West Street is being used as a holding point for ambulances attending to the injured, and a triage center has also been set up on North Street.