Guwahati/Agartala, Dec 18 (Inditop.com) At least 15 people were killed and 34 others injured when a bus veered off the road and fell into a river in Meghalaya Friday, officials said.

A police spokesperson said the bus from Guwahati to Agartala, capital of Tripura, fell into river Lobo near Sonapur, about 120 km from Meghalaya capital Shillong.

“The accident occurred around 3.45 a.m.,” a Meghalaya police official said.

Tripura’s Transport Minister Manik Dey told IANS in Agartala: “Till Friday afternoon eight bodies, including that of a woman, have been recovered from the Lobo river and the rescue operation was on.”

Though there is official confirmation of only eight deaths, sources said the number could be as high as 15.

“The injured were shifted to government hospital in Meghalaya and Silchar Medical College and hospital in southern Assam,” Dey said.

“The hostile terrain is making it difficult to look for bodies that could be trapped in the bus,” a police official involved in the rescue operations said.