The incident occurred when the driver of the jeep lost control over the vehicle and it skidded off a kucha road and fell into the canal, said Deputy Development Commissioner in-charge of Palamu, Mukul Kumar Pandey.
The vehicle was on way to Hydernagar of the district when the accident took place.
The body of a woman has been retrieved while a search operation has been launched with the help of divers to trace six other missing passengers, he said, adding 12 passengers have swam ashore.
The vehicle has been fished out of the water.
Further details are awaited.
