KIEV, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least six people, including five children, were killed and 12 others injured on Friday when a passenger minibus collided with a truck in Ukraine's south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, police said.

The accident occurred at 2:30 p.m. local time (GMT 1130), when the minibus with about 20 people aboard and the Kamaz heavy truck collided on Kharkiv-Simferopol highway, the National Police said in a statement.

Meanwhile, local media, who cited eyewitnesses, reported that the truck lost brake control and crashed into the minibus on the opposite lane.

The police have launched an investigation into the accident.

In the first half of 2018, a total of 1,237 people were killed and more than 12,800 injured in about 68,700 road accidents in Ukraine.