Twenty-six people were killed and nine were injured after a truck crashed at a roadside hill in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Saturday, local police said.

Police investigation showed that the accident, which occurred at about 11:50 a.m. in Sangri County in south Tibet's Shannan Prefecture, was caused by brake failure.

The truck with 35 people aboard was heading for Samye Monastery, a famed Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Zhanang County, at the time of the accident.

The nine injured people have been rushed to the Shannan Prefecture People's Hospital for treatment.

Tibet's Party chief Zhang Qingli, who is in Beijing attending China's annual session of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, has urged all-out efforts to treat the injured passengers.

He also ordered local authorities to learn lessons and step up safety checks to prevent such tragedies from happening.