The nine Chinese tourists injured in a deadly tour bus crash in Arizona were mostly in stable condition Saturday, according to hospital and Chinese Consulate officials.

A tour bus carrying Chinese tourists overturned Friday afternoon on a highway in Arizona near the Hoover Dam, killing seven people and seriously injuring 10 others, including the bus driver.

Most of the surviving victims were sent to University Medical Centers in Las Vegas by rescue helicopters soon after the accident occurred, according to the hospital spokesman Rick Plummer.

Plummer said late Saturday that two of the injured, both female, were still in critical condition, while others were listed as in serious or fair conditions.

Two persons who suffered slight injuries were released from hospital earlier in the day.

The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles issued a statement Saturday evening, confirming that six Chinese nationals were killed and nine others injured in Friday's accident.

"The nine victims who survived the tour bus accident were mostly in stable condition," said the statement.

The tour guide and the bus driver, both Chinese American, were killed and seriously injured respectively in the accident.

Meanwhile, U.S. authorities on Saturday began to investigate into the bus crash, which occurred when the Chinese tourists were returning to Las Vegas on a sunny afternoon from a one-day tour to the Grand Canyon.

Officials said the investigation could last for months.

National Transportation Safety Board Senior Highway Investigator Pete Kotowski met with officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which sent its officers to the scene of the bus crash Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2009)