Fifteen passengers, including children and women, died after the private bus in which they were travelling fell into the Visvesvaraya Canal near Pandavapura of the district on Saturday. The incident occurred at 12.40 p.m., police said.
The bus, with at least 30 passengers, was heading from Pandavapura to Mandya when it plunged into the canal near Kanaganamaradi. Locals pulled out nine bodies by around 1 p.m.
Efforts are on to rescue the other passengers and to retrieve the bodies, the police added.