AT LEAST 14 people were killed when a passenger bus skidded off a mountain highway into a river in southern central Nepal.

"We have recovered 12 bodies from the Trishuli River and two died while undergoing treatment at a hospital," police officer Rabindra Bahadur Singh said from Chitwan district, 70 kilo-metres south-west of Kathmandu.

The bus carrying more than 50 passengers was on the way from Kathmandu when it plunged into the river at Chandi Bhanjyang on Friday.

Twenty-six people were rescued.

"Half of the bus is still submerged inside the river. There might be some more bodies stuck inside the bus," the police officer said.