WELLINGTON • A bus carrying 27 people, most of them Chinese tourists, rolled over on a highway in New Zealand's North Island yesterday, killing five people and injuring six, police said.

Police are investigating the accident on State Highway 5 near Rotorua, a popular destination for tourist groups from China, in which the bus flipped to the opposite side of the road on a "moderate to easy bend", an official said.

"It's a traumatic incident for all concerned, and it has far-reaching consequences," Mr Brent Crowe, an inspector in the Bay of Plenty region, told a news conference.

Ethnic liaison officers were coordinating with victims' families and Chinese officials, he said, adding that police were working with the Foreign Ministry and the Chinese consulate to notify the next of kin. An official at the Chinese embassy in Wellington said it was working with police to identify the victims.

Two people suffered serious injuries, while four were less grievously hurt.

REUTERS