TAIPEI - A Taiwanese tour bus crashed off a mountain road and rolled 100 metres (330 feet) into a ravine on Sunday, killing eight people and injuring dozens, a Taiwanese television station reported.

The bus was carrying 39 people along a road in the mountains on the outskirts of the capital Taipei, when it apparently lost control and plunged off the road, cable television TVBS said.

Television footage showed rescue workers using ropes to reach the crash site where the crumpled wreckage lay among thick foliage.

TVBS said rescue workers had so far freed 30 people, 23 of who had suffered injuries.