The bus, carrying 22 passengers, veered off the road and rolled down a steep mountainside in Hsinchu county at around 3:00 pm (0700 GMT), the Hsinchu County Fire Bureau said.

"Most of the passengers were in their 50s and 60s," an official at the bureau told AFP. "Our understanding is that they were all Taiwanese."

The ten injured passengers were taken to a local hospital, one with serious injuries.

The bus driver was among the survivors, according to the official.