A bus carrying a group of tourists in Southern Vietnam has crashed killing 15 people, including nine Russians.

Police say the bus fell off a cliff instantly killing eight people. According to officials, there were 26 people on board, 24 Russians and two Vietnamese in the accident, which occurred in the city of Da Lat on Friday night.

Nguyen Van Lam, a police officer in the Binh Thuan province, said the initial investigation showed the bus was speeding down a hill before falling 200 metres off a cliff near the well-known tourist town in the Central Highland.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expressed his condolences to the families of the dead and instructed the Russian Emergencies Minister to provide all appropriate assistance, including returning the bodies to Russia as well as providing aid to the injured Russian citizens, said the president's press secretary Natalia Timakova on Saturday.

Traffic accidents were responsible for approximately 12 thousand deaths in Vietnam last year.