NEW DELHI, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and two others injured early Monday after a vehicle which they were travelling in plunged into a river in India's eastern state of Jharkhand, police said.

The jeep fell into river in Dumka district, about 313 km northeast of Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand.

"Early this morning a jeep carrying 10 people fell into river here at a village, killing eight people and injuring two others," Kishore Kaushal, a senior police official in Dumka, told Xinhua.

"The vehicle bringing newspapers to the district headquarter was also carrying some local passengers when it met with the accident."

Kaushal said the injured were admitted at a local medical facility and their condition was stated to be critical.

Reports said following the accident police officials were informed, who reached the spot to carry out rescue work.

"The injured were removed to hospital and efforts are underway to retrieve bodies and vehicle from the river," Kaushal said.

Police have registered a case and ordered investigations to ascertain cause behind the accident.

Deadly road accidents are common in India often caused due to overloading, bad condition of roads and reckless driving.

According to an official report released recently, on average India witnessed over 400 deaths in road accidents every day during 2016.