LA PAZ: At least 23 people, including three children, were killed after a bus plunged off a cliff in central Bolivia, police and witnesses said.

The bus, carrying 33 people, plummeted 400 meters (1,300 feet) down a cliff in Cochabamba state at around 11 am Monday.

"I stepped on the brake and there was no brake," said the driver, whose wife died in the accident.

The dead also included three children aged one, two and six, according to the police Facebook statement. Five other victims remain to be identified, it added.

The 13 people injured in the incident, which occurred about 50 kilometers from the regional capital, were taken to nearby hospitals.

Police said the cause of the accident was being investigated.Bolivia has a poor road safety record.

In a similar incident in March, 20 people died, while last September, 19 were killed when a bus drove off a cliff elsewhere in Bolivia.