NANJING - Two people died and 26 others were injured after heavy rain caused havoc on a tube built for leisure Saturday in East China's Jiangsu province, said local authorities.

The accident occurred around 3 pm in a semi-closed tube that allows people on special vehicles to slide down in a scenic zone in the city of Yixing, according to a spokesman with the publicity department of the city's committee of the Communist Party of China.

The downpour caused some vehicles in the tube to collide or skid off the passway, said the spokesman.

By 6 pm, two injured people died after failing to respond to emergency treatments. Twenty-six others were still hospitalized, with three of them in critical condition, he said.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.