HANOI, March 2 (BSS/AFP) - Twelve Vietnamese nationals were killed when a bus overturned after colliding with a motorcycle in a mountainous area of southeast Laos, a Vietnamese official said Friday.

The 16-seater vehicle was carrying 20 Vietnamese workers when the accident happened late Thursday in Attapeu province about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border, said police Lieutenant Colonel Tu Lam.

"The accident happened on a bend in the road in the mountainous area. The bus flipped over and fell off the road," he told AFP.

The bus driver, a Vietnamese, was killed along with 11 of the passengers, and the Laotian motorcyclist was seriously hurt, he added.