The bus, carrying a tour group from Taiwan, was hit by falling rocks and mud on a highway in Yongding District of Longyan City at 10:43, according to the city's fire prevention bureau.

The bureau, upon receiving a call from local villagers, dispatched three fire trucks to assist in the rescue.

Meanwhile, about two dozen villagers began trying to save the victims.

Witnesses said it was raining heavily at the time of the accident and the consequent landslide pushed the bus some 30 meters down the slope.

By 11:00, all of the tourists had been freed from the wreckage, some of them escaping the bus through the roof hatch.

The casualties have been sent to two nearby hospitals. "Two are seriously injured. One has fractured a bone in their neck and one has a lower back fracture. Most of the other patients have soft tissue injuries, and two have simple fractures," said Luo Jianhua, head of Yongding District Hospital.

Wong Lan-kam, one of the injured tourists, recalled the accident from her hospital bed. "The landslide happened all of a sudden, and the bus was flipped onto its side. I went totally blank and could not figure out what had happened," she said.

The road section where the accident happened is closed and Yongding District's travel authorities have issued temporary shutdown notice for tourist attractions in the area.

Local authorities have launched an investigation.

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