At least three people were killed and four others injured when a passenger car collided with a minibus in Ukraine's central Cherkassy region on Monday evening, authorities said Tuesday.

The accident occurred at Kiev-Odessa state highway at around 7:30 p.m. local time (GMT 1630), when the car had moved into the opposite lane and crashed into the minibus, said the State Road Safety Agency of Ukraine.

The 32-year-old car driver and two minibus passengers were killed at the scene, while four other occupants of the minibus were taken to the hospital with various injuries.

The preliminary investigation indicated that a violation of road safety rules could be behind the accident.

According to official statistics, 1,688 people lost their lives in over 89,000 traffic accidents on Ukrainian roads in the first seven months of 2017.

source: xinhua