CHENGDU -?Eight people died after a minivan collided with a truck in southwest China's Sichuan province on Thursday afternoon, local authorities said.

The accident happened around 4 pm on the National Highway 213 in the Songpan County of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, said an official from the county government.

Four people on the minivan were immediately killed, and four others died after medical treatment failed, the official said.

Police are looking into the cause of the accident.