Beijing  - Four Dutch tourists died Wednesday when a hot-air balloon caught fire and crashed near the southern Chinese tourist city of Guilin, state media said.

Five Dutch tourists and two Chinese pilots were on board when they lost control of the balloon shortly after it took off near the popular backpacker town of Yangshuo, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The balloon drifted over Guilin's Maling township, where it exploded and caught fire 150 metres above the ground, the agency said.

Three men and one woman died in the crash while the fifth Dutch tourist and the Chinese pilots were taken to hospital for emergency treatment for unspecified injuries, local officials told the agency.

The local government mobilized 400 people to mount a search and rescue operation after receiving the first reports of the crash in the morning, the report said.

The Guilin and Yangshuo areas of China's Guangxi region are famous for their dramatic karst scenery of limestone mountains cut by deep valleys. (dpa)