Twenty-two bodies have been recovered and three are still missing after a bus plunged into a reservoir in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Thursday morning, according to local police.

The accident occurred at 00:50 a.m. when a bus with 36 people on board was heading from Luzhou city in the neighboring Sichuan province to Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi. The bus veered off the highway and plunged into the Baohe Reservoir in Hanzhong city, 300 kilometers southwest of Xi'an.

Twenty-two people have been confirmed dead and 11 survivors are being treated in a local hospital in Hanzhong. The bus has been hoisted out of the reservoir. Local rescue workers are still searching for the three who are missing, but said their chances of survival were slim.

According to the local police, rainfall had made the road slippery and the driver did not slow down at a bend on the highway, which runs alongside the reservoir. The bus crashed through the barrier and plunged into the water.

Local police are carrying out further investigations into the accident.