Twenty-seven people died after a bus carrying children and some parents fell into a valley in Indonesia.

At least 39 others were injured after a suspected brake failure on the main Indonesian island of Java late on Wednesday evening.

The search and rescue agency said the bus driver lost control of the car shortly before it crashed in an area near Sumedang in West Java province.

The bus was carrying a group of Islamic middle school students, teachers and parents when the accident occurred on a winding road.

Police said the bus fell into a 65-foot valley after the driver lost control of the vehicle in an area with a number of steep slopes.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but survivors told authorities that the car’s brakes appeared to have failed.

The ministry said there were initial indications that roadworthiness tests were not up to date.

“The dead were a mixture of children and adults,” a Bandung rescue agency official, Mamang Fatmonu, told AFP.

Subriono, an official with the local search and rescue agency, said the evacuation efforts were later completed and the survivors were taken to a nearby hospital.

Television footage from the scene showed that the bus was on its side.

Police and rescue workers were seen transporting the wounded victims and transporting the dead to ambulances, while grieving relatives were waiting for information about their loved ones in hospital.

Road accidents are common in Indonesia due to poor safety standards and infrastructure.