NEW DELHI – At least 12 people were killed while one was missing after a mini-bus carrying 17 pilgrims fell off a bridge in Maharashtra province in western India, a police source said on Saturday.

The accident took place around midnight on Friday when the mini-bus, returning from a coastal area with pilgrims, lost control on the Shivaji bridge and fell in the Panchganga river, a police official in the Kolhapur district – where the incident happened – told EFE.

“We don’t know yet what happened, the bus is still in the river and we are trying to get it out,” said the policeman, adding that apart from the 12 deaths – which include three children – four injured people had been admitted to a hospital.

According to the source, who did not wish to be named, a new bridge was being constructed in the area, although he ruled out that this could be the reason behind the accident, adding that it was not possible to drive very fast on this road and everything pointed towards human error as the cause of the tragedy.

He added that until Saturday morning, the police had been unable to bring a large crane to haul out the vehicle from where it had fallen.

According to data from the transport ministry, 150,785 people died in road accidents in India in 2016, with bad road conditions being one of the main reasons behind the deaths.