Seven people were killed, 31 rescued and four missing when a bus carrying over 40 passengers was swept away by swirling waters of Sirsa River in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh on Saturday.

The seven bodies had been recovered while a search for three or four missing passengers was on, Ropar Deputy Commissioner Seema Jain said in Nalagarh.

Twenty-two people, including the driver and some perched on top of the bus, which was coming here from Ropar (Punjab), were rescued by police divers and nine others by locals, Jain said.

The survivors said a tyre of the bus got stuck in muddy waters of the river in Nalagarh area and as the driver tried to move the vehicle, gushing waters of the river washed it away.