Four people, including three children, were killed on Thursday after a car crashed into a group on a school cycling trip, Dutch authorities said.

The tragedy happened just after midday near the village of Vogelwaarde, close to the Belgian border.

"A passenger car collided with a group of 14 cycling children and two supervisors during their school camp," authorities said in a statement.

"Three people died on the spot," police in the southern Dutch province of Zeeland said in a statement, adding a third child had died after being taken to hospital.

Police said others in the group had been taken to hospital, but did not give the ages of the victims.