A bus crash early Monday killed 14 passengers and injured 43 others in Nyemo County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, local police said Tuesday.

The bus, carrying 64 people, including two drivers, left the regional capital Lhasa around midnight Monday and was heading for Xigaze in southern Tibet when it plunged into a 30-meter valley in Nyemo under the administration of Lhasa, at about 4:00 am Monday.

Ten people died at the scene and four died in hospital later Monday. The bus crash also left 43 others injured, of whom six were injured seriously.

A source with the regional bureau for public security said most passengers aboard the ill-fated bus were farmers and herdsmen from Tibet and neighboring Qinghai and Sichuan provinces.

One driver was injured seriously and the other slightly injured in the bus crash, police said.

Initial investigation showed that the bus carried 20 passengers more than its loading capacity.

The regional bureau for communications has set up a team to probe into the cause of and to deal with the aftermath of the accident.

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2003)