At least five people were killed and 17 others injured as a bus overturned on an intercity road in Iran's western Ilam province Saturday evening.

Axar.az reports, citing Xinhua, that the incident occurred at 19:25 local time (1555 GMT) as the bus was on the road from Dasht-e Abbas in Dehloran County to Murmuri in Abdanan County, carrying the employees of a petroleum refinery company based in Dehloran, the report said.

It quoted Hamzeh Mohammadi-Moqaddam, CEO of the provincial Red Crescent Society, as saying that 12 operational teams, involving 32 rescuers and six ambulances, were sent to the scene for rescue operations, "which are going on with full force.