At least 12 passengers have been drowned after the bus they took fell into a river Saturday morning in Du'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Another 21 survived, including 14 slightly and two severely injured, according to police.

Police were trying to find out the exact number of passengers on the bus when the tragedy happened. The bus had a capacity of 40.     

Rescue workers are continuing searching for possibly missing people.

Wei Haiguo, the driver, lost control over the bus because of unidentified malfunction, and the bus fell into the Diaojiang River, witnesses said.

The damaged bus was lifted out of the water early Sunday morning. Investigation into the accident is underway.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2004)