MANSEHRA: Nine people, including a woman and her daughter, were killed and four others sustained critical injures when a passenger jeep fell into a ravine in Bugermung area of Mansehra district on Wednesday.

“The accident occurred when the driver while negotiating a sharp turn lost control over the wheel, plunging the vehicle into a deep gorge. Eight people were killed on the spot,” Mohammad Nawaz, SHO of Shinkiari police station, told reporters on the accident scene. He said a critically injured woman died while being referred to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital. The jeep was on its way to Shinkiari from mountainous Bugermung area. It met the accident in Chidda area.

Police and locals rushed to scene and retrieved the injured and the bodies from the gorge and shifted them to hospital.

Later, the three injured were referred to Ayub Medical Complex in critical condition.

A passenger, who also sustained injuries in the accident, told reporters that eight people were killed on the spot. He said people got injured when they jumped out of the jeep when it fell into the ravine.

The victims were identified as Ghulam Rabbani, Mohammad Yousuf and his son Mohammad Ashfaq, Chenzeb, Mian Khan, Gulnaz Bibi and his daughter Kinza, 3, Durkhani Bibi and Saba. The Shinkiari police after lodging FIR started investigation to ascertain the exact cause of the accident.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2017