Two toddlers have been killed after a car ploughed into a group of 13 nursery children while they were out walking in western Japan.

The group was hit after a compact car bumped into another car at a junction and veered off towards a pedestrian footpath in the lakeside city of Otsu on Wednesday, Shiga prefectural police said.

A girl and a boy, both two years old, were pronounced dead after they were rushed to hospital, police said.

Conditions of others in the group were not immediately known.

The children, aged two to three, were being escorted by three teachers.

Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan Show all 6 1 /6 Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan Police investigate the site where a car slammed into a group of 16 people, mostly nursery school children, on a pedestrian footpath in Otsu, western Japan, 8 May 2019. Kyodo News via AP Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan Police officers inspect a vehicle that ploughed into a group of kindergarten children leaving at least four of them critically injured in Otsu, Shiga prefecture, Japan, on 8 May 2019. Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan An aerial view shows the site where a car involved in an accident with another vehicle skidded into a group of nursery school children on a footpath, in Otsu, western Japan, 8 May 2019. Kyodo/via REUTERS Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan An injured woman is carried on a stretcher at the site where a car slammed into a group of 16 people, mostly nursery school children, on a pedestrian footpath in Otsu, western Japan, 8 May 2019. Kyodo News via AP Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan Police investigate the site where a car slammed into a group of 16 people, mostly nursery school children, on a pedestrian footpath in Otsu, western Japan, 8 May 2019. Kyodo News via AP Two children killed after car ploughs into nursery group in Japan Police officers remove vehicles that ploughed into a group of nursery school children in Otsu, Shiga prefecture, Japan, on 8 May 2019. Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

The drivers, a 62-year-old woman in the compact car and a 52-year-old woman in the other vehicle, were arrested on the spot for alleged negligence, police said.

Children often walk to school in groups in Japan.