Sixteen Singaporean tourists were injured, five of them seriously, when their tour bus skidded off a road in Muang district of Thailand’s central province of Sing Buri on Friday night.

All the injured passengers were rushed to the provincial hospital by rescue workers from the Ruam Katanyu Foundation.

Police said that the tourists were taken on a tour of a church and Channasoot local market in Bang Rachan district, where a Christmas celebration was being held.

They were on their way back to their hotel when the accident occurred, said the police, adding that the bus driver had apparently tried to avoid a collision with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction, but lost control of the bus and ploughed into roadside bushes, with the bus ending up on its side.