SAO PAULO (AFP) - Four people were killed and nearly 40 others hurt on Sunday when a bus returning from Paraguay veered off a road and into a ravine in southern Brazil, the local authorities said.

The bus plunged 30m near the town of Passo Fundo in the north of Rio Grande do Sul state, Passo Fundo's city hall said in a statement.

The injured were rushed to area hospitals.

The bus was heading to the town of Nova Prata located in the state's mountainous Serra Gaucha region.

The G1 news website reported that the driver lost control of the vehicle.