SHEIKHUPURA, March 20: Five passengers were killed while over 15 others sustained injuries, three of them serious, on Saturday in an accident on Shahkot-Safdarabad Road near Chak 82, some 70km from here.

A speeding bus (FSA-2581), going to Shahkot from Safdarabad, plunged into a roadside ditch after its driver lost control over the steering. Consequently, Arif, Zaheer Abbas and Rana Zaheer died instantly while Shaukat and Mazhar perished in Shahkot Hospital.

The three passengers who sustained serious injuries were shifted to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. The identity of the injured could not be known so far. The bus driver and its crew managed to escape from the scene.

The eyewitnesses said the deteriorated condition of the road led to the fatal accident.

Shahkot police are going into the matter.