The death toll from a bus accident in central Kenya has risen to 30, police said Monday.

The passenger bus carrying an unknown number of people fell off a bridge Sunday evening and plunged onto a riverbank along a highway from Meru to the capital, Nairobi, authorities said.

The bus "must have developed brake failure, because it was at a very high speed when the accident happened," said senior police official Rono Bunei.

Bunei said early Monday that the death toll had grown to 30 from 24 overnight, with others hospitalized with injuries.

Agence France-Presse quoted county commissioner Norbert Komora as saying, "The search is still on and we are trying to retrieve the wreckage."

He referred to the place where the accident occurred as a "blackspot," meaning a hotspot for accidents.

The Reuters news agency, citing local media reports, put the number at 34 and said the government had ordered the company that owned the bus to stop using all its other buses while the investigation is carried out.

The accident is the latest in a series of deadly crashes in Kenya - and across the wider East African region - where roads are often narrow and police blame speeding drivers for crashes.

At least 20 passengers were killed on July 8 in a crash along the highway from Nairobi to the coastal city of Mombasa.

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