Twenty-two bodies have been recovered and three are still missing after a bus plunged into a reservoir in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Thursday morning, according to local police.

The accident occurred at 00:50 AM when a bus with 36 people on board was heading from Luzhou City in neighboring Sichuan Province to Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi. The bus veered off the highway and plunged into the Baohe Reservoir in Hanzhong City, 300 kilometers southwest of Xi'an.

Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead and 11 survivors are being treated in a local hospital in Hanzhong. Local rescue workers are still searching for the three who are missing, but said their chances of survival were slim.

According to the local police, rainfall made the road slippery and the driver did not slow down at a bend in the highway, which runs alongside the reservoir. The bus crashed through the barrier and plunged into the water.

In another accident, 14 people died and 12 others were injured when a bus overturned on Thursday evening in southwest China's Yunnan Province, the local police have confirmed.

The accident occurred at 19:23 PM Thursday in Muding County of the Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Chuxiong when a mini bus of Chuxiong Transportation Group overturned and fell into a bamboo-covered valley.

Rescuers said 10 of the 26 passengers on board the bus died immediately and another four died later at the hospital. The 12 injured are still hospitalized.

Further investigations into the accidents are underway. 

Tang Shichang and his son receive treatment at a hospital in Hanzhong, northwest China's Shaanxi Province after surviving a bus plunge Thursday, March 15, 2007. Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead, including Tang's wife. Cause for the accident is still under investigation.

A bus is hoisted out of the Baohe Reservoir in Hanzhong, northwest China's Shaanxi Province Thursday, March 15, 2007. The bus with 36 on board veered off the highway and plunged into the reservoir in the city, 300 kilometers southwest of Xi'an. Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead, and three remain missing.

Rescue workers make arrangements for the victims in a bus plunge that killed 22 in Hanzhong, northwest China's Shaanxi Province Thursday, March 15, 2007. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)