OSLO, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - Two people were found dead on Saturday at the Kvinesdal rock festival in southern Norway and six others were hospitalized after a suspected case of asphyxiation, police said.

'We are not exactly sure how they died but we suspect they suffocated from fumes inside a bus,' a spokesman for Agder police, Asbjoern Enoksen, told AFP.

The six others were found outside the same bus and may also have been asphyxiated, he said, without giving the sex or identity of the victims.

They were taken by ambulance and helicopter to regional hospitals.

The Kvindesdal festival began on Tuesday and includes heavy metal groups such as Alice Cooper.

It was due to continue on Sunday as scheduled, said Jony Mala, one of the organisers.