RAWALPINDI: Five people were killed and eight injured after the passenger van they were travelling in fell into a river in the Kahuta area on Friday, police said.

The van left Azad Kashmir at around 2:30pm and was bound for Rawalpindi, when it met with an accident two hours into the journey while crossing a bridge.

Police said the van fell into the river while driving across a bridge, but because it got stuck on heavy rocks was not submerged in the river.

Kahuta Station House Officer Sardar Shakeel said five passengers, Aleena Adnan, Aftab Mushtaq, Sher Bahadur, Shahid Afzal and Mohammad Afraz, were killed in the accident while eight others were injured.

Among the injured was a three-month-old baby girl who was stated to be in stable condition at a hospital.

Police said the van driver was also injured in the accident but managed to escape from the scene. Separately, two brothers were killed and another was injured after their car crashed into a tree on the side of the road near Hazro on Friday, police said.

The three brothers, Tauseef Ahmed, Sagheer Ahmed and Qadeer Ahmed were travelling to Benazir Bhutto International Airport when the accident took place due to brake failure.

Four people, including three brothers were killed in another road accident after their motorcycles collided with a van coming from the opposite direction in Attock’s Basal police station area, police said.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2017