DHAKA: A bus carrying pilgrims to Bangladesh's beach resort town of Cox's Bazaar plunged into a dried up river Monday, killing at least 17 people and injuring another 26, police said.

The bus crashed onto the Matamuhuri's parched river bed after the driver lost control of the vehicle which then smashed through railings on a bridge. “So far we have 17 people dead. Sixteen died on the spot and another on the way to the hospital,” Cox's Bazaar police chief Azad Miah told AFP, adding that 18 of the 26 people injured had been admitted to hospital.

He said the pilgrims were mostly from Bangladesh's central district of Gazipur and were heading to Cox's Bazaar after attending a festival at Fatikchhari, home to one of the most visited Sufi shrines in Bangladesh.