Seven cyclists were killed and four injured on Sunday when a car ploughed into a group of amateur club bikers in Calabria, southern Italy, local police told AFP.

There are seven dead and four injured," said police at Lamezia Terme, the city where the accident happened. The lives of the injured were not in danger, said a spokesman.

All the victims of the accident were local, said police.

Of the driver, police said: "He was under the influence of drugs and moreover was driving without a licence."

First reports said the accident happened when a driver lost control of his car while trying to overtake on a main road in the Catanzaro region at the tip of Italy.

The Moroccan driver was unable to brake in time when he was confronted by the cyclists and hit them head on, ending up in a ditch.

Police arrested him on suspicion of manslaughter at the hospital where he was taken for treatment, ANSA added.

Tests on the driver showed that he was under the influence of cannabis at the time of the accident, ANSA reported.

He had lost his licence seven months earlier for careless driving, the agency added.

Officials in Lamezia Terme have declared that the day of the funerals of the victims would be an official day of mourning.