LANDI KOTAL, Jan 28: At least eight Afghans were killed and seven injured when a passenger coach collided head-on with a trawler near the Sheikhwal Khwar, some two kilometres from here on Friday.

The flying coach with 15 passengers on board smashed against the trawler while overtaking another coach and plunged into a five-foot deep ditch. The trawler also skidded off the road and fell into the same ditch, burying the flying coach.

Eight of the passengers died on the spot, while seven were injured, five of them critically. The dead included a girl child Mursal Bibi and her brother Zahid from the Kunar province, Syed Hayat, Mohammad Akbar, Jan Agha, Hayatullah, Abdul Ghani and Ghulam Dastagir.

The injured were identified as Mursal Bibi's mother Roohi Gul, Muqeera Bibi, Haroon, Fazli Maula, Syed Jaffar, Syed Daud Shah and Rashid. They were taken to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Landi Kotal from where they were shifted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.

The victims could be recovered only after the administration hired two cranes from Torkham inside Afghanistan to pull out the vehicles from the ditch. Drivers of the two vehicles, who remained unhurt, escaped from the scene after the accident.

Witnesses said that the coach and the trawler slipped into the ditch after collision as about 1.5 feet of snow was lying on the road. Meanwhile, three more Afghans were injured when a flying coach coming from Torkham skidded off the road near Sultan khel and fell into a ditch. The accident occurred due to slippery conditions prevailing on the road after Thursday's snowfall.