Image caption The remains of the buggy of an Amish family, which overturned in a creek killing four.

Four Amish children have died in Kentucky, after the horse-drawn buggy they were travelling in overturned in a creek swollen by heavy rain.

The accident happened on Thursday, after a family of nine travelled in the torrential rain to make a call in a "phone shack".

Authorities say the group was crossing a creek when the buggy overturned in the water.

The dead were all aged under 12, and included a five-month-old baby.

'Water was swift'

Two adults and three other children and the horse pulling the buggy all survived.

"Whenever they crossed [the creek], the water was so swift it just took the buggy and tipped it over," said County Sheriff Dewayn Redmon.

The group was travelling in the rural community of Dublin in western Kentucky, which has a large Amish population.

Teresa Cantrell, the mayor of Mayfield, the closest city, described the area's Amish community as conservative and private.

Most members of the Amish community shun modern technology including electricity and cars, and preach isolation from the modern world.