Twelve people were killed and six others were injured after an earth mound served as a funeral platform collapsed in central China's Henan Province on Thursday morning, a local official said.

The accident occurred at about 9:40 AM in Zhouzhuang Village, Taiqian county of Puyang when many villagers were watching the funeral, an official of Puyang City said.

Local officials and rescuers rushed to the site to rescue the buried people after receiving the report, the official said.

Among the six survivors, three suffered serious injuries.

(Xinhua News Agency June 23, 2005)