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At least 21 people have been killed after a bus carrying students preparing to sit their university entrance exam plunged into a lake in south-west China, The Guardian reports.

The bus crashed into a guard rail and veered into Hongshan Lake in Guizhou province, leaving 15 others injured, the local emergency management department said.

The incident took place around noon in the city of Anshun and witnesses said the passengers on the bus included students who were due to sit their higher education entrance exams that day, known as “gaokao”, the state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Security camera footage shared on social media by the broadcaster showed the vehicle veering across at least five lanes and cutting into oncoming traffic before it ploughed through barriers on the other side of the road.

Images from the scene showed search and rescue teams at the lake and the bus being fished out of the water in the hours after the crash.

Guizhou’s emergency management department said more than 200 people helped with rescue efforts, including 55 professional divers.

Social media users expressed their condolences on China’s microblogging platform Weibo. “I hope the death toll will not rise anymore. 2020 has truly been full of disasters and difficulties,” one user wrote.

All those injured in the crash are being treated in hospital. Local authorities pledged an investigation into the cause of the accident.