GILGIT, June 18: At least 18 passengers, including four personnel of Northern Light Infantry (NLI), died when a Rawalpindi-bound bus fell into the Indus River on Karakuram Highway at Pattan, 325 kilometres south of Gilgit in the small hours of Tuesday, police sources told Dawn.

The bodies have been fished out of the Indus River and identified as Mohammad Yousuf, resident of Abbottabad; Kacho Ali, a sepoy of 7-NLI and resident of Shigar, Baltistan; Ghulam Rasul, sepoy of 8-NLI and resident of Kharmang, Baltistan; Sardar Khan, a sepoy of 2-NLI and resident of Chitral; Zulfiqar, sepoy of 5-NLI and resident of Tsari, Baltistan; Juma Din, resident of Swat; Amir Shah, resident of Rawalpindi; Shabir Hussain, resident of Thagas, Baltistan; Lal Wazir, resident of Peshawar; Marjan, resident of Peshawar; Saeed, resident of Mansehra; Mohammad Abbas, resident of Skardu, Baltistan; Ahmad Faraz; Gul Ahmad, resident of Charssada; Nasir Hussain; Mohammad Hasan; Ghulam Mohammad, the bus conductor, resident of Baltistan, and Mohammad Riaz, the driver.

The bus (BLN-6395) was coming from Skardu when a heavy boulder hit it due to heavy rains at 4am in Pattan, Kohistan District, the sources said.