MUZAFFARABAD, June 29: Four male passengers, including a police constable, were killed and 38 others injured on Tuesday when a bus crammed with passengers slipped out of control and crashed into a field here. Five of the injured were said to be in critical condition. The bus developed a technical fault while negotiating a narrow turn some 6 kilometres from the outskirts of Muzaffarabad. The vehicle crashed into a field after slipping out of the driver’s control and moving backwards, traffic sergeant Ishtiaq Gillani told Dawn.

Police constable Ahmed Deen was among the four passengers who lost their lives. The other three were identified as Abdul Saboor (55), Mohammad Bashir (40) and Deen Mohammad (37). Six women and three children were among the 38 passengers injured in the crash.

Sixteen people were hospitalised while the remaining 22 were discharged after treatment.

The victims were carried on stretchers in heavy rain between the MI room and X-ray centre and the wards under the open sky.

Ishrat Naqvi, one of the injured passengers, told Dawn at CMH that the bus was packed at least twice beyond its capacity and was plying on a road that it wasn’t allowed to operate on.

Ms Ishrat said that the passengers of another overloaded public transport vehicle had recently escaped a similar accident at the same place.