Two people were confirmed dead and 24 others were missing after a bus plunged into a river in southwest China's Sichuan Province Sunday, local authorities said Monday.

Rescuers had retrieved two bodies from the Dajin River in Rongchag County, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Garze's emergency response center said in a statement.

Police were yet to identify the dead, it said.

The bus, en route from Maerkang County in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture to the provincial capital Chengdu, crashed into the river at 10:15 a.m. Sunday.

Of the 38 people aboard, 12 survived with injuries. Nine of them were being treated at the Rongchag county hospital while three seriously injured were in emergency care at the People's Hospital in Garze Prefecture.

The bus had made a detour to Garze because the highway connecting Maerkang with Chengdu was being repaired, said a source at the Aba prefectural government.