MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - One person has drowned after a bus plunged through ice covering a Siberian river, the Emergency Situations Ministry said Thursday.
All the other 20 passengers of the privately-owned bus have been rescued, said Vladimir Berdnikov, the chief spokesman for the ministry's Siberian department.
The accident took place at 12.40 Moscow time (9.40 GMT) on the Bolshoi Yenisei River in the central Siberian republic of Tyva when the bus crashed through the 55-cm thick ice, Viktor Beltsov, a ministry spokesman said. Only the roof was left visible, he said.
When the rescue team arrived at the site, 10 passengers remained on the roof of the bus.
The ice at the 130-meter crossing was thought to be able to withhold up to 10 tons, and authorities had sanctioned vehicles to cross the river.
An inquiry has been opened into the accident.
