At least 14 children drowned when their school bus veered off the road into a pond in India.

More than 40 pupils were on the bus when the accident happened in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Local villagers fished out 14 bodies from the pond next to the road in the small town of Raghavpuram.

Police and volunteers helped rescue some of the children from the bus, which was partly submerged.

The bus driver lost control of the vehicle when he swerved to avoid a head-on collision with a motorcycle, police said.

Raghavpuram is about 150 miles from the state capital, Hyderabad.

India has the world's highest road death toll, with more than 110,000 people killed each year in accidents commonly caused by speeding, overcrowding and poor vehicle and road maintenance.