La Paz (Bolivia): Thirteen tourists five Japanese, five Israelis and three Bolivians died in southern Bolivia when the two jeeps they were travelling in collided and burst into flames, police said.

The accident occurred Thursday in a salt desert in Bolivia popular with foreign visitors.

The two vehicles, carrying a total of 14 people, hit each other head on, police Colonel Julio Sepsel told AFP yesterday.

"They exploded in the impact, that's why the tourists burned to death," he said.

The sole survivor, a Bolivian, was in hospital with burns and other injuries.

Sepsel said an investigation was underway into how the two jeeps could have collided in such a wide and empty area.

The bodies of the tourists were transported to the morgue in the nearest town of Uyuni.

Source : PTI