Twelve people including eleven children were killed on Tuesday morning, after their vehicle carrying thirteen was hit and caught on fire inside a tunnel in Weihai city, east China's Shandong Province, according to a Yonhap report citing the South Korean Embassy in Beijing.

Among the eleven children killed in the accident, ten were from South Korea and one from China. The driver was also killed. A teacher on board the same vehicle was left with serious injuries, said the embassy.

The students attended a kindergarten affiliated with an international school largely catering to Koreans.

The Weihai local government immediately initiated an emergency response plan. An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway.