Local media said the passengers had been returning from a trip to a farm in central Taichung when the bus came off the road in eastern Taipei.

The bus was left flipped over on the side of the road. Victims were laid out at the scene covered in white cloths, an AFP reporter at the crash site said.

Television reports said that most of the passengers on the bus were elderly.

It comes after another bus crash outside Taipei in July last year killed 25 Chinese tourists on board.

Investigators said the driver of that bus intentionally set fire to it in a suicide bid before it careered into a crash barrier.