SWABI, Aug 11: Eight people, including seven women, were killed on Sunday when their van was swept away by rainwater in Razaar tehsil here.

However, the driver and a child survived the accident.

According to local residents, seven women from a Nowshera town accompanied by two children booked a van for Ghulama area in Razaar tehsil to see a spiritual healer but the van was swept out to a flooded Ghulama Khwar nullah by rainwater.

Villager Khalid Bacha said locals advised driver Raj Wali to wait until the water in nullah receded but he ignored the advice and tried in vain to cross the nullah.

“When the van reached the middle of the nullah, it overturned and was swept away by rainwater. The driver is to blame for the accident,” he said.

Eight passengers, including Nighmat Begum, Shumila Khan, Irshad Begum, Riyasat Bibi, Yasmeen Begum, Khatoon Bibi, Zeenat Begum and five-year-old Mubeen Khan, drowned in the nullah for being trapped in the van.

However, the driver and a child managed to come out of the van and survived the accident.

Later, villagers fished out bodies from the nullah and shifted them to a local hospital for autopsy.

The bodies were later handed over to the relevant families for burial.