Fifteen Nepali tourists were injured in a bus accident in this southern province early Wednesday.

Fifteen Nepalese tourists were injured when their chartered bus lost control in heavy rain and crashed into a tree in Surat Thani’s Tha Chana district early Wednesday morning. Five of the tourists were in critical condition.

Police officers and rescue workers from Tha Chana rushed to the accident scene on the southbound lane of Asia Highway 41 in Tambon Prasong around 6am.

It is believed the bus left Bangkok on Tuesday evening, bound for Krabi province. Initial investigations found that heavy rain in the area had caused the road surface to become slippery.