VIENTIANE, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed, 20 others injured and eight people remained missing in a bus crash in northern Laos, the Lao police said on Monday.

The crash happened when a tour bus carrying 43 Chinese tourists, one Chinese tour assistant and two Lao nationals including the driver and a tour guide, skidded off a road between the capital Vientiane and the northern town of Luang Prabang, the police told Xinhua.

Eight bodies of the victims were found in the wreckage of the bus, and the crash was probably caused by a brake failure, according the police.

Staff from the Chinese Embassy in Laos and the Chinese Consulate-General in Luang Prabang have been traveling to the crash site.