MANILA: Eleven people died and 10 others were injured when a bus fell into a ravine in the northern Philippines, police said Monday.

Disaster struck near the town of Bontoc, 275 kilometres north of Manila, on Sunday when a bag fell off the vehicle as it laboured up an uphill road and the driver stopped for it, a provincial police report said.

The bus however rolled backwards until it pitched down a 150-metre cliff.

Rescuers pulled 11 corpses from the bottom of the ravine and rescued 14 people, including four who escaped injury.