Rescue workers carry the body of a passenger after a bus fell into a ravine at the Liku Lematang area, South Sumatra province, Indonesia, on December 24, 2019. Photo: Reuters

 

At least 27 people died and more than a dozen were injured after a bus plunged into a ravine in Indonesia, a rescuer said on Tuesday. 

The bus carrying dozens of passengers careered into a 150-meter ravine in South Sumatra province just before midnight on Monday and ended up in a river, police said earlier.

"Currently the evacuation is ongoing and some divers are searching [for victims] around the bus," head of the local search and rescue team Berty Kowas told Metro TV.

Footage shared by the rescue team showed bodies being taken out of the water on to stretchers.

Police and rescuers were scouring the river and the nearby slopes to look for victims and several passengers were feared missing.

"It crashed into the concrete road barrier before plunging into the ravine. Some people are still trapped inside the bus," local police spokesman Dolly Gumara told AFP, adding no other vehicle was involved. 

Search and rescue teams have been deployed to look for victims, Gumara said, adding injured survivors were taken to hospital.

The accident happened in a remote and steep area near the town of Pagar Alam, hampering the efforts to rescue the victims. 

According to a passenger manifest, the regional bus left Bengkulu province for Pagar Alam with 27 on board, but some survivors told police there were around 50 people inside when the accident happened. 

Traffic accidents are common in Indonesia where vehicles are often old and poorly maintained and road rules regularly flouted.