BEIJING • All they wanted was to see their parents. And for that, two Chinese boys clung onto the undercarriage of a bus as it travelled for 80km.

The two boys, who have not been named, are about eight or nine years old, according to local Chinese media Nanguo Zaobao.

They are from a rural village in Guangxi in southern China, and had set out to look for their parents working in the neighbouring province of Guangdong.

Their teacher reported them missing last Thursday, and security officers found them later that day clinging to the undercarriage of the bus near the wheels.

The search was carried out when the vehicle had stopped at a bus station, reported local media.

The duo were covered in mud and officers were surprised to find them unharmed although the bus had travelled across steep terrain for almost 5km.

"The children are really thin, so the undercarriage was a good hiding space," one bus station worker told Nanguo Zaobao.

According to station staff, the boys did not talk when questioned initially. "We finally came to understand that these two boys had been missing their mum and dad," said a worker.

The boys' relatives were informed and they were picked up that same evening, local media reported.