Thirteen people were killed and one is missing after a commuter bus in North China's Hebei province plunged into a river on Monday morning, according to the province's emergency management department.

The bus, allowed to carry 55 people, belonged to Jingye Group, a private steel enterprise headquartered in Pingshan county in Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital.

Fifty-one people were onboard the bus, including the driver, on Monday morning when it fell from the Wangmu Bridge and plunged into the Hutuo River. Photos of the scene released by China Central Television showed that most of the bus was under water. The bus was salvaged and brought to shore.

Fifty people have been pulled ashore, including 13 people who died after treatment failed, and one was still missing as of 10 pm on Monday. A search and rescue operation was underway.

The driver, who was rescued, has been detained by police and the cause of the accident is under investigation.

State Councilor Zhao Kezhi, who is also minister of public security, attached great importance to the accident and appointed vice-minister Liu Zhao to lead a working group that rushed to the scene of the accident to guide investigation.

After the accident, Hebei Party chief Wang Dongfeng and the province's governor, Xu Qin, issued instructions requiring search and rescue efforts at all costs, and making every effort to treat the injured, discover the cause of the accident as soon as possible and deal with the aftermath properly.