FIVE Australians, including two children, have been killed in a road crash in India while travelling to the Taj Mahal.

According to local media reports, the Australian family was travelling on the Yamuna Expressway in the country’s north when a tyre on their SUV burst, causing the vehicle to careen into a safety barrier, then flip onto its roof.

The Times of India reported the family were on their way to the Taj Mahal when the accident occurred on Sunday afternoon.

“The impact of the collision was so great that bodies were found lying in pools of blood nearly five to seven metres away from the mangled car,” the newspaper quoted a local police official, Narendar Singh, as saying.

Anamika Dutta, 45, her daughters Neetika and Pipasa, aged 12 and 15, and sister Sonia, 25, died at the scene, while her 20-year-old son, Tirvijai, died in hospital a short time later.

Anamika’s father, N K Paliwal, and her husband, Rupendra Dutta, remain in hospital. Mr Dutta, originally from Delhi, now runs a restaurant in Adelaide.

“He was on picnic to Agra with his wife, two daughters, son, sister-in-law and father-in-law, when the tragic incident took place”, a local told Indian news site NDTV.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed the deaths and is providing consular assistance.