Authorities have said that three students from a British agricultural college were killed on Thursday when their tour bus crashed in South Africa.

The Times of London has reported that four other students remained in intensive care in a hospital. Two teenage girls died when they were ejected from the bus during the crash, and a 19-year-old man whose spine was fractured died on the operating table a few hours after the collision.

It has been reported that the group of 18 students and two teachers from Brooksby Melton College in Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire were on a field trip to Swaziland. They had been scheduled to fly back to England from South Africa on Friday.

According to police, the bus left a mountain road at Bulembu Pass about 30 miles from Nelsprui. No other vehicles were involved.

The pass near the Swaziland border is known as a high-accident area. Brenda Greaves told the BBC her daughter, Rachel, had described the crash to her.

Greaves said, "She said they were going around a very nasty bend and the driver lost control and the bus just toppled over."

The field trip was part of the college's program in animal management and welfare. (With Inputs from Agencies)