HANOI: Twelve people, most of them foreign tourists, died Thursday when their tour boat sank in Vietnam's famed Halong Bay, an official said.

"We have determined that 12 people died including 10 foreigners and two Vietnamese," said Vu Van Thin, a senior official with the Quang Ninh province People's Committee, the local government.

He said the Vietnamese victims included a tourist and an interpreter for the foreign visitors, whose nationalities had not yet been confirmed.

Nine tourists and six crew survived the accident, Thin said.