At least twenty-one people were killed Saturday when a tourist bus plunged into a ravine on Indonesia's main island of Java, officials said.

The accident happened around midday. The bus was carrying a group of employees from a private company from the West Java province town of Bogor to a tourist destination in West Java's Sukabumi.

Nine other people on the bus were seriously injured, said a spokesman at Pelabuhanratu hospital, Taufik, who like many Indonesians, uses one name.

According to local police spokesman Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko, the bus plunged into the 30-meter (98-foot) -deep ravine after the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of sharp inclines.

He said it was the last of four buses carrying employees of the PT Catur Putra Group who were reportedly on their way to a rafting location near Pelabuhanratu.

Road accidents common 

Traffic accidents are common in Indonesia due to poor safety standards and infrastructure.

The cause of the accident has not yet been determined.

In February, 27 people were killed when a packed tourist bus returning from an outing plunged from a hill in Subang in West Java province.

A couple of months later, two accidents in West Java's hilly resort region of Puncak killed at least 15 people.

av/RC (dpa AP)

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