URUMQI, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a bus accident in northwest China rose to seven on Tuesday after divers retrieved the last body from a river into which the bus plunged.

    Divers recovered the last body at midday on Tuesday from the 10-meter deep, Nangan irrigation channel in Alaer City, in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

    The bus, with 19 people on board including the driver, veered off the road and into the river at 3:40 p.m. on Thursday due to a steering wheel malfunction. Twelve managed to escape.

    Three bodies were found in the 40-seat bus which was lifted out of water six hours after the accident. Two bodies were retrieved Friday and one was found on Monday in the river. Two of the seven dead were women.

    Survivors said four bicycles on the bus blocked the exits for the passengers trying to escape.

    The driver has been detained by police and local government and traffic authorities are still discussing compensation for the victims.