ISLAMABAD, Dec 25: Twenty-five people, including three school-going brothers, were killed and 43 others injured in two road accidents near Rawalpindi and Layyah on Saturday.

A Rawalpindi-bound bus (K-9805) coming from Lahore plunged into a ravine near Dina, some 12km off here, when the driver lost control over the steering-wheel at a turn.

Eighteen people died and another 39 suffered injuries. They were taken to the Rawalpindi General Hospital and the District Headquarters Hospital, Jhelum. The dead were shifted to the Rural Health Centre, Dina.

According to the Motorway police, the bus was badly damaged and they had cut its body to take the victims out of the vehicle.

The Motorway police suggested that the accident had occurred due to negligence of the driver. The police found that the air pressure of the left front wheel of the bus was not proper.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Omer Hayat, Zafar Hussain Kazmi, Ahsanullah, Arshad Mehmood, Ali Asmin, Jehanzeb, Ashi Iqbal, Mohammad Imran, Adil, Karamat Masih, Zubaida, Irshad Begum, Nasira and Maryam. The names of the rest could not be ascertained.

APP adds: A school van (LIT-192) and a bus (LRD-9255) collided head on on M.M. Road, about 13km off Layyah, owing to poor visibility, police said, adding that soon a truck (DNA-4774) rammed into the pile-up.

Three people died on the spot and four others succumbed to injuries at hospital.

The deceased were identified as Nadeem, Waseem, Faheem, Muhammad Zareef, Mohsin Nawaz, Manzoor Hussain and Wahid Bakhsh.

Nadeem, Waseem and Faheem were all brothers and were going to school.

The wounded - Rashida, Shahid Abbas, Samar Abbas and Saeed Ahmed - were taken to the civil hospital, Chowk Azam.