Fifteen oil workers, most of them from the Indian subcontinent, were killed in a head-on collision between two buses near Burgan oil field in southern Kuwait on Sunday.

Seven of those killed were Indian nationals, five were Egyptians and the other three from Pakistan, said Mohammed Al Basri of the state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

Fire department spokesman Colonel Khalil Al Amir said the victims were employees of Burgan Drilling, a private subcontractor for KOC.

Two Indian citizens, one in critical condition, and a Kuwaiti were injured in the accident, Mr Al Basri told Agence France-Presse.

Four other people remained trapped in the vehicles, according to a fire department statement carried by the Kuwaiti News Agency.