JAKARTA: A news report says eight people are dead and four are injured after bus filled with pilgrims heading to a sacred grave site collided head-on with a truck on Indonesia's Java island.

The Detik.com news portal reported that the collision on Sunday occurred in Tuban, a district in East Java.

It quoted local police officials as saying eight passengers were killed instantly and four were severely injured.

Road accidents are common in Indonesia, a vast nation of 235 million people with crowded and poorly maintained highways.

Nearly 600 people were killed in September in road accidents during the two-week holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.