EILAT, Israel (AP):

A bus filled with Russian tour guides crashed through a roadside barrier and tumbled down a steep ravine in southern Israel, killing at least 23, rescue workers said, in one of the worst traffic accidents in Israel's history.

The tour guides had just arrived in Israel to check out spots for future Russian tourists and were heading for the popular Red Sea resort of Eilat, when their trip came to a tragic end.

The driver of another tour bus said the vehicle sped by in a no-passing zone, crashed through a guardrail and rolled down the slope, said Rami Vazana, the driver of the bus that was overtaken.

Bus overturned

Television footage showed the blue bus overturned at the bottom of a desert ravine, debris strewn along the slope it rolled down from the road. Bodies in white bags were laid out in a row at the bottom of the ravine, which was swarming with rescue workers and soldiers.

The passengers' luggage was tossed into a pile nearby.

"Dozens of wounded and dead were strewn along the slope. Most of them were thrown from the bus as it rolled," medic Gabi Baribo said.

Critical condition

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said 23 people were killed. Hospitals said several of the injured were in critical condition.

A spokeswoman for Israel's tourism ministry said the 60 passengers on the bus were Russians, and Eilat official, Avi Cohen, said they were from the city of St Petersburg and had just landed.

Irina Tyurina, a spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Tour Operators, told the Russian station Vesti-TV that they were representatives from five Russian tour agencies on a professional scouting trip to Israel.

Forty ambulances rushed to the scene and Israel's air force dispatched six helicopters to evacuate the seriously wounded to hospitals across the country.

Israeli rescue workers gather around the overturned bus.