MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 27: At least 20 people were killed and 25 others injured when an overloaded passenger bus fell into a deep ravine near Pir Galli village on the Khuiratta-Mirpur Highway on Friday, police and witnesses said.

The Bhatti Transport Service vehicle (AJK-6140) was going to Mirpur from Khuiratta village in district Kotli when it veered off the road while negotiating a sharp curve at about 8:35am, police said.

A witness told Dawn by telephone that the bus was overloaded with some people sitting on its roof. As the driver was negotiating the steep curve, he lost control and resultantly the vehicle fell into the 500-feet deep ravine, he said.

Police said 20 people, including two women and a police official, died in the accident. They were identified as Mohammad Amin, son of Shafi; Rashid, son of Abdul Majeed; Zaraat Bibi, wife of Nazar Mohammad; Tahir, son of Azam (conductor); Sub Inspector Chaudhry Zafar Hussain; Raja Masood, son of Raja Abdullah; Mohkam Deen; Mohammad Abbas; Pervez and Javed, sons of Munshi Khan; Tasweer Begum, wife of Moazzam Khan; Arshad Gul and Mehfooz Gul, sons of Shamshad Gul; Younus, son of Mohammad Rafiq; Masood, son of Zaman, Rizwan, son of Ilyas; Farhat, son of Barkat Hussain; Shahzad, son of Zulfikar; Mohammad Sharif, son of Ghulam Mohammad; and Younus Khan.

Of the 25 injured, 14 were admitted to the DHQ hospital Mirpur. They were identified as Mohammad Iqbal (driver), Muzammil Hussain, Zakia Bibi, Mohammad Fazil, Mohammad Shafi, Fayyaz Begum, Mohammad Asif, Surayya Begum, Arif, Altaf Hussain, Taimur, Ansar Mehmood, Mohammad Iqbal and Ghalib Hussain.

At least five other injured were taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.

A doctor at the DHQ hospital Mirpur told this correspondent that condition of some of the injured was serious.

Officials feared that the number of casualties could be more, because many persons had removed the victims from the site of the accident without informing the police.