At least six people were killed and 28 others were injured late Thursday night in Nepal after a bus fell into an icy mountain river, police and local media reports said.

Police said the bus plunged into Bhote Koshi River after dropping some 100m from the highway at Jambu, about 100 km north-east of the capital. Police recovered the bodies of six passengers. Reports said three others were in critical condition.

Nepal's Kantipur daily said at least 10 passengers had drowned in the river and were missing. However, police said they could neither confirm nor deny the report.

The bus was on its route from the Nepal-Tibet border town of Tatopani to Kathmandu. According to the police report, the driver lost control of the bus on the narrow mountain highway soon after the vehicle's suspension broke.

Nepal has a notorious record on road safety. Hundreds of people are killed each year in bus accidents blamed mostly on careless driving and overcrowding on buses.