BATKHELA: Eleven passengers, including women and children, were killed and 14 suffered injuries when their coach plunged into a deep ravine at Malakand Pass here on Tuesday.

The Levies officials and local residents told Dawn that a passenger coach bound for Peshawar from Swat met the accident after it skidded off the road at Shaheed Morr near Malakand Top due to speeding.

They said the bodies and injured people were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Batkhela, from where those in critical condition were referred to Peshawar hospitals.

Deputy commissioner Zafar Ali Shah and other officials rushed to the hospital to inquire after the injured.

He ordered staff members to ensure the best possible treatment of the injured.

Scores of youths thronged the premises to donate blood to patients.

Among the deceased were Zahida, Fatima, Naseer Ahmad and Sheharbano of Manglawar area in Swat, Gul Dargai and Dawlat Khan of Dargai, Sher Zaman and Amir Khan of Khar, and two women of Malakand, while the injured included Adil Nawaz, Jamshed, Mohammad Shah, Naveed, Waheed, Talha, Riaz, Sadiq, Mohammad Ijaz, Mohammadzada, Mustafa, Mohammad Ayaz, Zahid, and Wajidur Rehman.

An injured person, Sadiq Shah, said he along with family members was returning to Akora Khattak in Nowshera from Barikot area of Swat after attending a marriage ceremony when the passenger coach met the accident.

Meanwhile, body of a girl was found in Batkhela graveyard on Tuesday. The girl, a resident of Khal area in Lower Dir district, had been missing for several days.

There were unconfirmed reports about the girl committing suicide. Parents had lodged a report with the Khall police station about their daughter’s mysterious disappearance.

Published in Dawn February 1st, 2017