MANILA, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 29 persons were killed on Tuesday when a passenger bus plunged off a cliff in Antique province in central Philippines, local authorities said.

The bus, carrying 53 passengers, was traveling west from Iloilo City to San Jose de Buenavista in Antique province when it crashed into a concrete road barrier before plunging into a ravine of 15-meter depth around 4:30 p.m. local time in Hamtic town.

Junlee Saylo, head of the antique provincial information office, told a radio interview that 25 died on the spot and four others died at a local hospital.

The deaths include the bus driver and his collector, local news web ABS-CBN reported.

Quoting the Antique provincial government, Panay News, a regional newspaper, reported that two critically wounded passengers, including a male from Kenya, were taken to a hospital in Iloilo City for treatment.

Emergency workers have been rescuing the survivors and retrieving the bodies of the people in the ravine.