MUZAFFARABAD: Eight persons, including two women and a young girl, were killed and six others were wounded when a passenger jeep they were on board plunged into a ravine in Neelum valley on Tuesday morning.

The ill-fated jeep was on its way to the town of Kundal Shahi from Jagran village when it veered off the treacherous Jagran road near Marsi village at about 9a.m.

Kundal Shahi is located some 74 kilometres northeast of here.

“While negotiating a curve on the dangerously narrow road, the vehicle went out of the driver’s control and fell down onto the rocky bank of the gushing Jagran Nullah,” a police official told Dawn on telephone from the area.

As a result, Siraj Deen, 50, Ahmed Shah, 65, Naseer Hussain Shah, 25, Mohammad Shafi, 35 (driver), Bilaur Khan, 55, Ms Husn Jan, 50, Ayesha, 12 and Shabana Bibi, 20, died on the spot.

Expressing grief and sorrow over the accident, AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed announced Rs150,000 each for the dependents of the deceased persons and Rs50,000 each for the injured persons, according to an official handout.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014