Twelve people were killed and 17 others injured in a traffic accident in Slovakia's western Nitra region on Wednesday, local media reported.

The accident, involving a bus and a lorry, happened on the I/65 road near the village of Malanta, according to TASR news agency.

"We register 12 dead -- four of them are minors, and 17 injured. There are firemen from Nitra, Trnava, Bratislava and Banska Bystrica regions," Interior Minister Denisa Sakova was quoted by TASR as saying.