Rescue workers today search for Russian tourists trapped in a bus after it skidded off a highway and fell off a bridge near Antalya, Turkey. The bus broke through iron barriers and fell about 20 feet, killing 16 people and injuring 25.

ANKARA, Turkey — A bus carrying Russian tourists skidded off a highway in southern Turkey and fell off a bridge today, killing 16 people and injuring 25 others, officials said.

The bus broke through iron barriers, flipped over and fell about 20 feet onto its roof in a river bed, NTV television footage showed. Rescue workers struggled to pull the bodies and injured from the wreckage, Deputy Gov. Mehmet Seyman of the Mediterranean province of Antalya said.

Fourteen Russian passengers, their Turkish tour guide and the bus driver were killed. It was not immediately clear how many people in total had been on board.

"We woke up as the bus flipped over," the state-run Anatolia news agency quoted one of the injured passengers, Lena Rasuleva, as saying. "I fell unconscious and opened my eyes in the hospital."

At least one baby and a toddler were among the injured, including Rasuleva's daughter, Diana, Anatolia reported.

NTV television, citing local authorities, said the driver was sleeping at the wheel.

Each year, thousands of people are killed in traffic accidents on Turkey's roads because of careless driving or poor road conditions. Many of the roads consist of just two lanes, are badly lit and poorly patrolled by police.

The bus was traveling from the resort of Alanya, which is popular with Russian and German tourists, to the scenic Pamukkale waterfall near the central city of Denizli.