RAWALPINDI, Dec 23: Six schoolchildren and an armyman were killed while nine others injured after a passenger coach rammed into a school van on Rawalpindi-Talagang road, some 70 kilometres from here on Saturday afternoon, police sources said.

The Suzuki carry-van (CH-2385) was going to Nurghi Village in the area of Saddar Police Station, Talagang, to drop 15 students when the driver of the speeding passenger coach (JA- 8816) lost control of the vehicle and rammed the van from behind, killing five girls and a boy on the spot and injuring nine others.

The dead and injured were pulled out of the wreckage of the van by rescuers and shifted to Talagang Tehsil Hospital.

Three of the seriously injured, including the school van driver Mohammad Munir, were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Rawalpindi.

The dead were identified as Mehreen Akhtar, daughter of Mureed Akhtar; Rabia Altaf, daughter of Altaf Hussain; Humaira Kulsoom, daughter of Ahmed Khan; Amina Shaheen, daughter of Fateh Khan; Hira Bibi, daughter of Mubashar Niaz and Amjad Amir, son of Khan Amir, all between the age group of four and nine. An armyman identified as Kamran Ameer who was injured critically in the accident died in a hospital, police said.

The bus driver, identified as Mohammad Saleem, managed to escape from the scene.

Police have registered a case and started investigation.