MUZAFFARABAD, May 20: At least 26 people died and around 62 others were injured in two major road accidents in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, officials and witnesses said.

In the first accident, a Reshian-bound passenger bus of the Mughal Transport Company (AJK-8985) fell into a fields, hundreds of feet down the road near Parsa village, killing 16 passengers.

Witnesses said the vehicle was packed with passengers beyond its capacity, some of whom were clinging to its rear portion or sitting on the roof.

“As the bus tried to overtake a stationary truck on the mountain side, a portion of the remaining track of the road on the other side caved in and the bus fell into the fields,” Tanvir Ahmed, an employee of the public works department, who was at the scene, told Dawn. He said the vehicle lay overturned in the fields, with most of the victims trapped in it.

People living in scattered houses in the area rushed to the scene and helped the victims come out of the vehicle. The additional deputy commissioner (general), Hattian Bala, Ghulam Bashir Mughal, and deputy superintendent of police, Chaudhry Azhar, also arrived at the scene and supervised the rescue operation. Muzaffarabad Deputy Commissioner Dr Mahmoodul Hassan Raja told Dawn that 16 people, including two women, were killed in the accident while injured were taken to Combined Military Hospital and Hattian Bala hospital.

Of all the 16 people killed in the first accident, the bodies of two remained unidentified. The other 14 victims have been identified as Robina Bibi, wife of Farid; Nur Din, son of Mir Mohammad; Mir Alam, son of Mehdi; Ghulam Rabbani, son of Sikandar Sheikh; Mushtaq, son of Habib; Miskeen, son of Niaz; Ghulam, son of Usman; Ansar, son of Jumma; Wali Mohammad, son of Raj Mohammad; Siddique, son of Hidayat Ali; Siraj Deen, son of Faqeer Mohammad; Zia Begum, wife of Sain; Aftab, son of Abdul Qayyum; and Riffat Bibi.

The second accident occurred in the southern Poonch district, when a passenger wagon (RIR-3846), with 25 people on board, skidded off the road and fell into a ditch near Kalar Bandi village.

Ten people, including three women, died on the spot, and 16 others were injured. Three of them were taken to Rawalpindi because of their critical condition, deputy commissioner, Poonch, Liaqat Hussain, told Dawn. He said the cause of the accident could not be ascertained.

The dead have been identified as Nasir (driver), son of Shafaat; Arif, son of Sultan; Tanvir, son of Hanif; Saghir, son of Rasheed; Mohammed Hussain, son of Gohar Ali; Nasir, son of Haneef; Nasim Akhtar, wife of Nazir; Zubaida, wife of Mohammad Hussain, Husan Bano, widow of Said Mohammad, and Ashraf Khan, son of Sultan.