One person was killed while five others were missing after a passenger van plunged into the Indus River in Gilgit, officials said on Monday.

Mazhar Maghul, the spokesperson for the district administration, told Dawn.com that the incident occurred at seven in the morning near Sasi area of the Haramosh valley.

A van carrying tourists from Rajanpur, Punjab lost control due to the driver’s error and subsequently plunged into the Indus River, he added.

Upon receiving information about the accident, rescue teams arrived at the scene and recovered mobile phones, a gas cylinder, and men’s shoes from the spot.

Muhammad Hussain, a station house officer (SHO) at a local police station, said that the family was travelling from Skardu to Gilgit in separate vehicles.

He said that one of the cars made it all the way to Jaglot while the other met with an accident near Sasi, Haramosh and fell into the river.

He said that one body had been recovered from Alam bridge, which connects Gilgit-Skardu road with the Karakoram Highway, and handed over to the family.

Quoting the victim’s brother, the SHO said that six people were travelling in the vehicle, adding that a search was under way for the missing passengers.

On July 15, a Gilgit-bound car had plunged into a deep ravine in the Shaitan Pari area of Lower Kohistan district, resulting in the death of four people, including a woman, and leaving one person critically injured.

Police had confirmed that the bodies of all four victims, who were from Skardu, were sent to their respective villages.