JAKARTA: A bus carrying school children and some parents returning from an excursion plunged into a ravine on the Indonesian island of Java on Wednesday night, killing 27 people, the country’s transportation ministry said.

The search and rescue agency said in a statement on Thursday that the driver of the bus lost control shortly before the crash in an area near the city of Sumedang in West Java province.

The transportation ministry said the bus was carrying junior high school students and some parents and that 39 people had survived.