A fast boat travelling from Nusa Penida "sank and ran aground" near Sanur port in Bali's east, the island's search and rescue agency said in a statement.

Head of the rescue agency in Bali's provincial capital Denpasar, I Nyoman Sidakarya, confirmed two Chinese nationals were killed and a 23-year-old Indonesian remained missing.

The boat was left overturned on a beach near Sanur port, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

The rescue agency did not say the cause of the Chinese nationals' deaths.

The boat was carrying 80 people, including 73 foreign nationals, two Indonesians and five crew members, the rescue agency in Denpasar said.

Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago nation of around 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards and sometimes due to bad weather.

Last month a ferry sank on its way to Bali from eastern Java island, killing at least 19 people.

In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.