JHANG, July 7: Seven people were killed and 16 others injured, of them six critical, in a head-on collision between a Multan-bound bus and a van near Kot Mapal, 15 kilometres from Shorkot on Jhang-Shorkot-Multan Road, on Monday.

Eyewitnesses and bus passengers said the bus driver could not keep control on the vehicle owing to speeding and hit the van. The accident left five people dead instantly, while two more died at the Jhang District Headquarters Hospital.

Those who died were van passengers and identified as Lal Khan, of Gahelpur; Khan, of Haveli Bahadur Shah; Mushtaq Husain, of Rodu Sultan; Nikho Shah, wagon conductor of Shorkot, and Bagu, of Saeedabad. The identity of a man and a woman could not be ascertained. Six injured were shifted to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, while others were treated at Shorkot and Jhang hospitals.