MUZAFFARABAD, Jan 5: At least 17 people were feared dead when a van carrying around 20 passengers was hit and buried beneath a huge landslide on the main road linking AJK’s Kotli district with Punjab on Friday.

The incident occurred near Holar Bridge, some 55-kilometres off Kotli at around midday.

Officials said that seven bodies and three injured persons, including an army man, had been retrieved and added that there were scant chances of survival of the remaining people.

The rescue operation being jointly conducted by police, army men and local people continued till the filing of the report.

Three of the dead were identified as Naseem, Ghulam Mustafa and Mahno (driver), officials said.

There were conflicting reports that a Rawalpindi-bound car with unidentified number of people on board was also trapped under the rock.

“We have been told by the local police that apart from the Kotli-bound van, a car was also on the road when the huge rock slipped down the mountain side,” said special branch superintendent Zahoor Gillani.

A witness told Dawn that he had only seen the crushed wreckage of the van under the huge rock.

“I also heard the screams of some women and children trapped under the rock but they died down gradually,” said witness Shahzad Rathore.

Officials said that big machines were being sent to remove the rock.

The incident also blocked movement of vehicles and people were crossing the area by foot.