The wives of the Dutch and Hungarian ambassadors to Malaysia have been admitted to hospital after being injured in a road accident in Sabah, the police said today.

They were identified as Danielle von Muhlen, 57, the wife of the Dutch ambassador John von Muhlen and Erzsebet Toth, 48, the wife of Hungarian envoy Tamas Toth.

Also injured and hospitalised at the Oueen Elizabeth Hospital were the Charge de affairs of Luxembourg Charles Schmidt, 42, and the bus driver Jamil Othman, police said.

Hospital officials said Danielle was being kept in the intensive care unit after she suffered abdominal injuries but her condition was stable.

Erzsebet suffered a hand fracture, Schmidt a broken rib while Jamil had head injuries but they were all out of danger, they said.

Handing over UN grants

Police said the accident happened early Friday when European Union delegates were travelling in a bus, under police escort, which was hit by a lorry that failed to stop at a junction.

The delegation was heading to a local village to hand over UN grants to a local community in Penampang, just outside the state capital Kota Kinabalu.

"I saw the policemen stopping traffic to allow the bus to go through," Roland Van Remoortele, Belgium ambassador to Malaysia who was travelling in another bus, told reporters at the hospital.

"But I think the lorry did not see the signal and hit the bus."