HARIPUR, Feb 24: At least thirteen passengers including five women were injured, five of them seriously, when a van plunged into a ravine near village Soha some 36km from here on Sunday.

Police said that tie rod of a Haripur bound van bearing No. 5451-BUB coming from village Kalinjar broke when it reached near village Soha that resulted in the van plunging into several feet deep ravine injuring all the 13 passengers on board.

The injured were moved to District Headquarters Hospital, Haripur from where five of them were referred to Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad in critical condition.

Those injured included Gulfam Bibi, Zubaida Sultan, Rukhtaj Bibi, Tasleem Bibi, Wazir Jan Bibi, Saeed, Muhammad Younas, Khani Zaman, Nisar, Yousaf, Ashfaq, the driver Siddique and a two-year-old boy Hafeez.

Meanwhile, in a gas cylinder explosion three persons were injured at Sheryar Market in the jurisdiction of City police here on Saturday evening. Police quoted one Noor Muhammad the owner of a denting and painting shop as saying that his three mechanics were busy in the shop when a gas cylinder exploded injuring them seriously.

The injured were moved to DHQ Hospital, Haripur from where one of the mechanics Faizan, was shifted to Ayub Medical Complex, Abbottabad.

The other injured were identified as Afzal and Jehangir Khan.