A bus carrying about 40 people drove off a road and plunged into a river before dawn in Turkey today, killing at least 16 passengers and injuring 11 others.
The rest of the passengers - believed to be about 14 people - were missing and feared dead.
The bus was half-submerged in the Kelkit River after the crash in the central Turkish province of Tokat, 200 miles east of Ankara, local official Ferhat Kutoglu said.
One passenger managed to free himself and walk to a nearby village for help, the Anatolia news agency reported. Ten other passengers climbed on top of the bus to wait for help, and rescuers with ropes pulled them to safety.
Rescue teams and divers recovered the bodies of 16 passengers, most inside the bus.
Kutoglu said they had probably been swept away by the Kelkit's strong currents and drowned. Four of the 16 bodies, including that of a child, were discovered some 12 miles from the scene of the crash, the agency reported.
TV images showed the bus on its side, with a rescuer in orange overalls standing on top and peering inside through the windows. Kutoglu said rescuers were searching the river banks for bodies.
Authorities shut the floodgates of a nearby dam to lower the river's water level, helping recovery efforts, Anatolia reported.
The bus was traveling from Istanbul to the eastern city of Van, near the Iranian border.