The number of people killed on Sunday when a bus crashed on the Trans-Caucasus highway in the republic of South Ossetia has risen to 11, Rossiya 24 television reported.

Citing the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, the news channel said the dead included two children and 14 people had been injured in the accident, the cause of which has not been given.

The Emergency Situations Ministry in Russia's North Caucasus republic of North Ossetia said earlier that the bus went off a cliff near the Roki Tunnel, which connects North Ossetia with the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia.

A spokeswoman for the regional ministry said Russian rescuers had arrived at the scene and reported eight dead and 16 injured.

Russia recognized South Ossetia as independent in August 2008, two weeks after it had expelled Georgian troops from the republic, which Tbilisi had attacked in a bid to bring it back under its control.

Moscow has signed several cooperation agreements with the tiny mountainous region, which depends on Russia for its security, energy supplies and much of its infrastructure.

VLADIKAVKAZ, July 18 (RIA Novosti)