An OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) observer talks on the phone near a car damaged by shelling in Elenovka village of eastern Ukraine, on April 27, 2016. (Xinhua/Ermochenko)

KIEV, April 23 (Xinhua) -- An employee of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was killed on Sunday when a vehicle of the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine hit a landmine in eastern Lugansk region, local media reported.

Three other people were wounded in the incident, which occurred on a rural road in the area controlled by pro-independence insurgents, said the rebel-run Lugansk Information Center.

According to the information agency, the OSCE car has deviated from the regular route.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz also said earlier on his twitter that an OSCE monitor died when his vehicle drove on a mine in Ukraine.

Currently, around 700 OSCE observers are deployed in Ukraine, with the majority of them monitoring the cease-fire between government troops and pro-independence insurgents.