In Southern Brazil a tour bus plunged off a mountain road into a ravine on Saturday.

Initially, 32 people were reported dead, but the number has since risen to 49.

The bus was carrying over 50 people.

According to BBC, police said the bus fell 1,300 feet into a wooded area near the city of Joinville in Santa Catarina state.

According to The Associated Press, the government of Santa Catarina state said among the dead were eight young children, three adolescents, 24 women and 14 men.

Ten people, including two children, were transferred to nearby hospitals. As of now, their condition is unknown.

Officials warned, when first on the scene, the death toll could rise because more bodies might be found under the bus and in the woods.

The police officers with emergency personnel began working on removing the bus from the mountainous area in Serra Dona Francisca on Sunday.

The actual cause of the accident has not yet been determined. Police said it appeared the brakes on the bus had failed as the bus took a bend. The accident occurred as night fell.

A local government spokesman explained the difficulty in accessing the site hampered the rescue effort. A rescue helicopter had been sent to the scene but could not land due to the terrain.

The mountainous area in southern Brazil is a popular tourist attraction. And although the first reports suggested it was a bus filled with tourists, no information on the nationalities of the victims has been made available