The accident occurred around 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of Indore, the largest city in central Madhya Pradesh state.

“Fifteen people died due to impact and around 37 people are injured,” sub-divisional magistrate Omnarayan Singh told AFP.

Three children were among the dead, he said.

The bus was heading to Indore when it broke through the railing on the bridge and crashed into a dry river bed, the Times of India newspaper reported.

The bus driver had fallen asleep at the wheel before the crash and had fled from the scene, it said.

India accounts for 11 percent of the global road death toll despite only having one percent of the world’s vehicles, according to a World Bank report released in 2021.

The same report estimated 150,000 car crash fatalities in India annually, or one person every four minutes.