A total of 43 passengers and drivers were on the bus when it crashed from a bridge at an altitude of about 6m into the Kuenga River in Transbaikal, Siberia, more than 6,000km east of Moscow.
The video and images from the tragic scene showed the vehicle being overturned on a thick layer of ice. Rescue efforts were still being accelerated at the scene as it was evening on December 1.
The bus had an accident while traveling from Sretensk to Chita. The vehicle retreated from the road and overturned about 60km from Sretensk, a spokeswoman for Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said.
Thanks to the dry river and the entire water had frozen, the vehicle did not sink when it had an accident.
There is a theory that the bus was likely involved in an accident due to a tire explosion that caused the bus to swerve off the bridge.
Two helicopters carrying rescue forces and medical staff, including a neurologist, a injury doctor and two anesthesiologists, were dispatched to the scene.
The injured were taken to local hospitals.
The truck driver, Sergey Kubasov, 43, died at the scene. The driver has 20 years of driving experience and is described by Russian media as a very careful driver.
There were a total of 18,214 deaths in road traffic accidents in Russia in 2018, according to the country's traffic police.
