Several officials were suspended pending investigation after a school bus fell into a ditch on Monday in Fengxian county, east China's Jiangsu province, leaving 15 students dead and eight others injured, local authorities said Friday.

Zhang Bin, deputy chief of the county government, Sun Guanghua, head of the county education bureau, and Zhang Xianqi, principal of the Zhongxin primary school which the victims attended in Shouxian township, were among the suspended officials, county publicity officials said.

A bus carrying 41 students home fell into a roadside ditch when the driver tried to avoid a pedicab in the rural areas of Fengxian.

The injured students are receiving treatment.

Police are investigating the accident.