MURREE: At least 11 people were killed and more than 35 others injured on Wednesday when two buses fell into a ravine after a collision near Salgran, on the Rawalpindi-Murree road.

“We believe that a few bodies and some of the injured are still stuck in the wreckage,” said Arshad Bhutta, media coordinator for Rescue 1122.

Sources in traffic police and locals who took part in rescue said that the death toll might increase.

Rescue teams struggled hard to retrieve the injured and bodies from the rocky bed of the Korang river, that is usually dry in winters, amid severe cold, rain and darkness and found it quite difficult to bring them up to the road from the deep ravine.

About 20 vehicles of the rescue service were used.

According to witnesses, the buses collided after their drivers lost control over them because of speeding on the slippery road. Both the buses were gong from Murree to Rawalpindi on the local route.

Rescue officials said the accident apparently took place during overtaking and both buses fell about 40 feet from a bridge.

The bodies and injured were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and Federal Government Services Hospital in Islamabad and private hospitals in Bhara Kahu by Rescue 1122 and military rescue teams.

Pims spokesperson Dr Ayesha told reporters that one of the 10 bodies brought there was of a woman while two of the victims belonged to Lahore. A four-year-old boy was among the severely injured, she added.