HARIPUR/MANSEHRA: Eight people, including two women and a minor girl, were killed and 17 others injured in different road accidents in Haripur and Mansehra districts on Thursday.

In Haripur, five passengers including two women and a minor were killed and ten others injured when a passenger van plunged into a roadside gorge near village Chakhaee on the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

Police and rescue sources said that more than 15 occupants of Hiace van were travelling to the Islamabad Airport on Wednesday night to see off a relative.

The driver lost control over the vehicle near Chakhaeevillage, and it fell into 200 ft deep roadside ravine, killing two women, two men and a minor girl on the spot while ten others including the driver were injured, they said.

The area people, along with emergency services, launched a rescue operation but due to rain and darkness of night, the shifting of injured and dead bodies to nearest medical facility caused great hardships to rescuers.

The police registered a case against the van driver Muhammad Fareed for negligence in driving.

In Mansehra, three people were killed and seven others critically injured in two road accidents in Oghi and Balakot on Thursday.

The driver of a dumper truck lost control over the vehicle, colliding head-on with a three-wheeler and both fell into a ravine in the Tarawara area of Oghi.

The injured were rushed to hospital where doctors pronounced Mohammad Naveed and Mohammad Ilyas, stated to be the drivers of rickshaw and the dumper truck respectively, dead. Three of the injured were referred to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital Mansehra for treatment.

In another road mishap, a young boy was killed and four others sustained critical injuries when a pickup van plunged into a deep ravine in the Kawai area of Kaghan Valley on Thursday.The injured were shift to the Civil Hospital Balakot where doctors pronounced Shah Mir, 11, dead. The injured were referred to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital Abbottabad for further treatment.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2024