Nine plantation workers, eight of them women, were killed when their van collided head-on with a lorry transporting ice along Jalan Air Kuning-Mambang Diawan near here early today, according to police.

Tapah Police chief Supt Som Sak Din Keliau said the accident occurred at 6.50 am near Kampung Haji Dahlan.

He said the driver of the van and the eight women passengers died on the spot. The lorry driver was badly injured.

"The lorry transporting ice was going from Kampar to Air Kuning while the van was heading in the opposite direction when the accident happened," he said to reporters at the scene.

The bodies of the nine workers were sent to the Tapah Hospital while the driver of the lorry was taken to the Kampar Hospital for treatment, he said.

-- BERNAMA