At least eight people have died in a road accident in east China's Zhejiang Province late Monday, local traffic police said.

A bus with nearly 50 people aboard broke through highway guardrail and rolled down the roadbed some five to six meters deep, after it collided with a car on a highway in Jiaxing City at about 9:25 p.m..

The bus from the eastern Shandong Province was severely damaged. All the passengers had been rushed to hospital by 10:30 p.m..

The death toll might rise as some passengers were in critical conditions, rescuers said.

Further details were not immediately known.