At least nine people were killed while 18 others were injured after a coaster fell into a ravine in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) during the early hours of Monday, police said.

The vehicle, bearing registration number, IOT-1493, was returning from Nairiyan, a remote village in AJK’s Sudhnoti district where the victims had gone to attend urs celebrations, to Gujranwala.

As the vehicle arrived near Jarai village, at the border of Kotli and Mirpur at around 1am, it fell into a ravine due to the “negligence of the driver who was unfamiliar with the area”, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kotli Riaz Mughal told Dawn.com.

“The skid marks on the road suggest the speeding vehicle spun out of the driver’s control before plunging into the ravine,” he said, adding that there were between 28 to 30 people on board the coaster.

The senior police officer said that the local police station was alerted about the incident, following which police and Rescue 1122 personnel from both Kotli and Mirpur rushed to the scene.

The SSP said that the driver was believed to have fled the scene, adding that he had been booked under sections 320 (punishment for qatl-i-khata by rash or negligent driving) and 337-G (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent driving) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

SSP Mughal said that the deceased and the injured, some of whom were critically wounded, had been shifted to the Divisional Headquarters Hospital, Mirpur.