Eleven people on board a bus had a narrow escape as they were rescued just before the vehicle got washed away into a river in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra early on Friday, police said.

The incident occurred around 2.30 am at Pangire village in Bhudargad tehsil when the bus driver, despite being asked by the police and the PWD personnel not to go ahead, drove the vehicle over a bridge even as the water of the Chikodi river was flowing above it, they said.