People try to rescue passengers after a bus ferrying a wedding party fell while crossing a bridge in Rajasthan.

A bus carrying 27 wedding guests plus a driver crashed into a river in Rajasthan, India’s western state on Wednesday, killing 24 passengers, said police.

According to Bundi district police superintendent Shrivaj Meena, the driver lost control while crossing a bridge.

"The bus was carrying a marriage party from Kota. The bus fell off a bridge," Meena told reporters.

Images from the accident scene showed villagers and rescue workers helping retrieve bodies from the bus that lay upside down in the river.

India records more than 150,000 road deaths each year which are widely blamed on badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

Last month, 26 people were killed when a bus collided with an autorickshaw and fell into a well in western India.