12 killed, including 10 S Korean children, in China accident

BEIJING (AP) - Twelve people, including 10 South Korean school children, were killed Tuesday when their bus was involved in an accident and caught fire inside a tunnel in eastern China, the local government and a South Korean diplomat said.

A Chinese child and the bus driver were also killed, while the children's teacher was injured and undergoing surgery, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.

The Weihai city government said on its microblog that the vehicle caught fire inside a highway tunnel in the city but gave no other details. It said the accident's cause was under investigation. The diplomat, based in the nearby port city of Qingdao, said he had no word on the accident's cause.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the South Korean children attended a kindergarten affiliated with an international school catering largely to Koreans resident in China.