A tour bus fell off a bridge in North Korea, killing 32 Chinese tourists, state-run media reported Monday, adding President Xi Jinping instructed his staff to take necessary measures to deal with the tragedy.

Four North Koreans were also killed and two Chinese were seriously injured in the accident, which occurred Sunday evening in the southwestern province of North Hwanghae, Xinhua News Agency said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a condolence visit to the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang, the official China Central Television reported Monday, in a rare move as the country's ruler.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that a "major" road accident killed and hurt its citizens without specifying the details of the accident, although media footage showed a wrecked tour bus.

Authorities of both countries have been making every effort to rescue the victims at the site and are in close communication to investigate the details of the accident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a press conference.

(China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang)

China's broadcaster CCTV broadcast footage of an upside-down, mangled bus in the dark amid rainfall and a patient being treated at a hospital.

North Hwanghae Province, the North Korean border region just north of Seoul, includes Kaesong, the capital of Korea's Koryo Dynasty (918-1392).

As the home for historic monuments and sites, the ancient capital has become North Korea's second World Heritage site after the Complex of Koguryo Tombs in Pyongyang.

Many Chinese visit North Korea as tourists, with the two countries sharing a border.

During the celebration of the birth of North Korea's late founder Kim Il Sung, known in the nation as the "Day of the Sun," on April 15, a Chinese art troupe visited Pyongyang and performed in front of Kim Jong Un.

The fatal crash occurred as relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have been improving since March, when Kim visited China in his first foreign trip since becoming the country's leader following the death of his father Kim Jong Il in 2011.

During their surprise summit in Beijing at the time, Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to promote cultural exchanges between the two nations.

China, known as North Korea's main economic lifeline, used to account for nearly 90 percent of the neighboring country's external trade.

But bilateral ties had worsened as Pyongyang continued to develop ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons in defiance of international warnings, which prompted China to bolster economic sanction against North Korea.