Seven Chinese tourists died and nine others injured Friday after their tour bus traveling to Las Vegas crashed on a highway south of the Hoover Dam in Arizona, authorities said.

Six people died at the scene when the accident occurred at about 3:04 p.m. local time (2304 GMT), but the death toll climbed after one person died later at a Las Vegas hospital, the Las Vegas Sun daily reported.

A spokesman of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles said that his office is still trying to contact with the U.S. authorities on the accident and is yet to confirm the reported deaths of Chinese tourists.

(Xinhua News Agency January 31, 2009)