A fire on a kindergarten bus in east China's Shandong Province has killed 12 children and injured at least five others, according to a Wednesday Xinhua News Agency report.

Twenty-three people were aboard the bus when the fire broke out late Tuesday afternoon. The children were being driven to their homes in the city of Linyi at the time of the accident.

Five children were pronounced dead at the scene and seven others died despite efforts to save them. Four children and one teacher were hospitalized.

This is the third bus fire in as many weeks in China. On February 22, 17 people were killed and five injured when a long-distance bus caught fire and exploded in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. Six days later, five were left dead and 23 injured when a minibus in central Henan Province burned.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2005)