MOSCOW (AP) - A bus crash in southwestern Russia killed two people and injured eight others on Thursday (Dec 26), authorities said.

The crash occurred near the village of Yarkino in the Lipetsk region, about 320km south of Moscow, Russia's Emergencies Ministry said.

The bus was driving from Moscow to Tbilisi, the capital of the ex-Soviet nation of Georgia, the ministry said.

All the passengers and the bus driver were residents of Georgia, authorities said.

The driver had apparently lost control of the bus on a slippery road and it overturned.

The ministry added that eight people were hospitalised with injuries and two of them were in critical condition.