Jakarta - At least eight people were killed and five others injured when a passenger bus collided Friday with minivan on Java's northern coastal highway, media reports said.

The accident took place at about 2:30 am (1930 GMT Thursday) in the West Java district of Subang, about 70-kilometres east of Jakarta, when the west-bound bus collided with a packed minivan, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

Police blamed the bus driver for carelessness in driving at high speed on a busy highway as the country entered the annual exodus season where millions of people started traveling to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on October 1-2.

Before collided with the minivan, the west-bound bus hit a road separator and an electricity pole. All of the casualties were minivan passengers.

Transport officials predicted the exodus by land transportation will reach its peak on Monday, or three-days before the Eid al-Fitr. (dpa)