At least four bodies have been recovered after a Rawalpindi-bound hi-ace van plunged into River Jhelum on Thursday, with four others missing, Rescue 1122 said.

The van, carrying 12 passengers, was coming from Hajera in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and plunged into the river while navigating a turn near Garari Bridge in the Kahuta area of Rawalpindi on Thursday morning, as per Rescue 1122 sources.

According to Rescue 1122, four people have been confirmed among the drowned.

District Emergency Officer 1122 Rawalpindi Sighbatullah said that four people have been rescued so far and were rushed to the Kahuta Tehsil Hospital in Rawalpindi.

Superintendent THQ hospital, Dr Samina, also confirmed that the rescued persons had been shifted to the medical facility.

The Rescue 1122 official also confirmed that “four bodies of the drowned victims, including a female, had been retrieved and shifted to hospitals, where their identity was being ascertained”.

He added that the van had been pulled out of the water, and a search for the other passengers was underway.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Rawalpindi, Engineer Amir Khattak, directed all relevant authorities, including health, Rescue 1122, traffic police and tehsil administration to launch a coordinated operation for the rescue of the passengers.

The rescue operation continued till dusk, as low-light conditions did not allow divers to search for the missing. Rescue officials said the search will resume at first light on Friday, but expressed fear that the river’s current may have carried away the missing passengers.

Assistant Commissioner Kahuta Ayesha Zafar, speaking to Dawn, said three or four passengers were still missing and the rescue operation will resume tomorrow morning.

On August 24 last year, a fatal accident at the same Garari bridge claimed 24 lives after a bus plunged into the river, while in another accident over 14 passengers were seriously injured in a bus accident in the area on the Kahuta- Hajera AJK road in October 2024.

Following these accidents, the district authorities of police and traffic had launched a drive to inspect the condition of the public service vehicles (PSVs); however, it ended after a few months.

In November last year, 22 people drowned after a bus carrying them plunged into a river in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district.