The truck's trailer swung into the middle of the slippery road and hit the oncoming bus, Senior Constable Jari Tikanoja said. He said large paper rolls in the truck's trailer crashed through the windscreen of the bus.
About 40 passengers _ most of them teenagers _ were on the bus at the time of the accident, traveling to ski resorts in Lapland, northern Finland, he said. Most of the passengers were from the capital, Helsinki, or Finland's second city, Tampere.
The victims were not immediately identified. Doctors at a regional hospital said four were in critical condition.
``The driver said the icy road had caused the trailer to suddenly start swerving, and he was unable to control it,'' Tikanoja said.
A government commission was investigating the accident and the Cabinet, which met in emergency session, recommended that flags be flown at half-staff Friday.
The accident, near Aanekoski, some 190 miles north of Helsinki, was one of Finland's worst accidental losses of life. In 1979, 27 people died in a fire in a home for the elderly.
