MANSEHRA, May 3: At least 17 people, four army personnel and two policemen among them, were killed and another 20 injured when a passenger coach plunged into a ravine in Kamila area of Kohistan on Thursday.

The coach carrying 37 passengers was going to Skardu from Rawalpindi when its sleepy driver lost control over it, a source said.

Fifteen people were killed on the spot and two died on way to hospital.

Local people and police retrieved the bodies and rescued the injured persons and took them to the Dassu Civil Hospital.

The deceased included Bibi Jan, Hajra Bibi, Mohammad Sadiq, Amir Khan, policemen Mohammad Ijaz and Aslam Hussain, Mohammad Hussain, Asghar Nawaz, Ibrahim, Akseer, Sepoys Mohammad Khalid and Shabeer Ahmad, and Hawaldars Ghafar Ahmad and Mohammad Mushtaq.

The bodies of a minor girl, a youth and an old man were yet to be identified in the hospital.

“The bodies of the four army men, an army contractor and 12 injured personnel were airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital in Rawalpindi,” Kohistan District Coordination Officer Aqal Badshah told reporters.

He said the condition of four injured people was critical and they had been sent to hospitals in Hazara.

Mr Badshah said policemen Mohammad Ijaz and Aslam Hussain were on duty to protect the passengers. Following the Harban sectarian attack earlier this year, two policemen are to be deputed on every coach.

A military official in Rawalpindi said the killed and injured personnel were going to Gilgit-Baltistan to rejoin their duties after holidays.