Kong said a bus belonging to a transport company in Kashi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, caught fire about 260 kilometers from Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Members of the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan and the Kyrgyzstan Foreign and Interior Ministries went to the scene as soon as possible, he said.

Kong said the cause of the accident, the number of casualties and their identities were still being investigated.

He said China had urged the Kyrgyzstan government to investigate the accident thoroughly, inform the Chinese side timely and handle the related matters appropriately.

Russian media reported Friday that 21 people on a Chinese-owned passenger bus appeared to have been shot to death and their bus set on fire in southeastern Kyrgyzstan.

The reports, attributed by Russia's Interfax news agency and TVS television to unnamed Kyrgyz security sources, said that bullet wounds had been found on the passengers' bodies.

The burned out double-decker bus was found in the mountains, about 263 kilometers southeast of the capital Bishkek, on Thursday.

All the passengers were found in their seats, leading to speculation that the bus might have caught fire while they slept. It was found in a ravine, suggesting that the fire followed a crash.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2003)