WUHAN, Feb. 7  -- Fourteen people were killed and 17 others injured when a truck plunged down a slope in central China's Hubei province at about 11:40 a.m. on Wednesday, the local security bureau has reported.

A small truck carrying 31 people fell off the cliff on the way from Wudaoshui town to Taiping town in Hefeng county.

The death toll has reached 14 and 17 other passengers have been taken to a local hospital.

It is not known what caused the vehicle to veer off the road.