GILGIT: All 25 individuals on board a passenger coaster drowned to death when the vehicle plunged into the Indus River near Rondu Valley in Skardu district on Monday.

According to officials, a private transport company coaster was travelling to Skardu from Rawalpindi on Gilgit-Skardu Road when it fell into the River Indus at 5am in Yalbu village of Rondu Valley.

Three children, two women and four Pakistan Army soldiers were among the victims. Most passengers were from Skardu and Shigar districts.

Officials said 10 bodies had been retrieved from the river while search for 16 other passengers was under way. Personnel of the Pakistan Army, Rescue 1122, district administration, and local volunteers were taking part in the rescue operation.

Force Command Northern Areas Commander Major General Ehsan Mehmood Khan arrived in the area in a helicopter and took part in the rescue operation.

The victims were identified as Ashraf Hussain, Rana, Mubashar Hussain, Manzoor Hussain, Mohammad Taqi, Salman, Ehsan Ali, Ahmed Ali, Nashaad, Nasir Khan, Ghulaam Hussain, Ahfaq, driver Hakim Khan resident of Kohistan, Rida, 3, Salar, 2, Neelma, Sajid Hussain, 31, Mohammad Sadiq, 53, Mohammad Ishaq, 30, and Shabir Hussain.

Four members of a family and climber Shabir Hussain Sadpara were also on the same bus. Other passengers could not be identified.

According to the officials, the driver was travelling for the first time on the Gilgit-Skardu Road.

The Gilgit-Skardu Road is under construction and traffic accidents on the route are frequent.

Ghulam Abbas, a resident of Rondu, said the distance between the road and River Indus is a hundred feet.

The road condition, he said, was bad and new drivers were not fit to travel on the route.

Abbas said one driver travelled for over 20 hours, and sometimes fell asleep that caused most accidents.

The cause of incident could not be ascertained but it was assumed that the driver was not aware of the risks of travelling on the route.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2020