At least six people have died after a large sinkhole appeared in part of a street near a bus stop in northwestern China, the Xinhua news agency reports.

Sixteen people were also injured when part of the road and footpath collapsed suddenly into the ground in the city of Xining in Qinghai province on Monday, according to Xinhua.

A video shown by CGTN TV showed a bus crashing into the resulting sinkhole, causing an explosion. The hole was about 10 metres wide, according to that report.

Emergency services were still searching for missing people on Tuesday.

The cause of the accident was not known, but road collapses are common in China.

Last February, 10 people died in the southern Chinese city of Foshan in Guangdong province after a hole appeared in a section of an eight-lane road the size of two basketball courts.

-DPA