KIEV, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Nine people were injured after a tourist minibus overturned in a mountainous area in western Ukraine on Sunday, the National Police said in a statement Monday.

According to the statement, the accident happened on the international highway linking the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the city of Chop on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.

The driver of the minibus lost control of his vehicle, which swerved out of its lane and flipped onto its roof.

Nine passengers on the bus were hospitalized with bruises, fractures and lacerate wounds, the statement said.

According to some preliminary information, all those injured were Ukrainian nationals.

The police has launched an investigation into the accident.

In the first quarter of 2018, some 500 were killed and 5,500 others injured in about 35,000 road accidents in the country. Speeding and violation of road safety rules were the main causes of those accidents.