14 die, several critical as bus plunges into Russia's Black Sea

At least 14 people died in southern Russia early today after a bus carrying construction workers veered off a pier and plunged into the Black Sea, officials said.

The bus was carrying people from their shift building a pier for the Tamanneftegaz oil company in the Taman port when the accident happened.

"14 people died, several people are in serious condition," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.

The committee said it had launched a probe into violation of traffic rules and providing unsafe services and was looking into the technical condition of the bus.

Earlier the Krasnodar region governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that the bus was carrying 35 people, 20 of whom have been rescued. The emergencies ministry, however, said the bus was transporting 38 people, 24 of whom were rescued.

The accident occurred on the Taman peninsula on the Black Sea near the Strait of Kerch that flows between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed from Ukraine in 2014.