NEW DELHI (AP):

Police say 17 people died when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a river in western India.

The bus was crossing the Purna river in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra state yesterday morning when the accident took place. The area is 650 kilometres (400 miles) north of state capital Mumbai.

Head Constable Surendra Mahaske says that at least 10 others were injured in the accident. The cause was not immediately clear because the driver was among those killed. Mahaske says there were at least 40 passengers on the bus and the survivors were helped out of the river by local villagers.