Around 22 people lost their lives while eight were badly injured after a Rawalpindi-bound bus fell into a ravine in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Wednesday.
The accident was reported by a man was selling fritters on the roadside who saw the bus plunge into the ravine. He informed about the accident to a prayer leader over phone, who then made announcements on the mosque’s loudspeaker asking villagers to rush to the accident site to being with rescue operation.
As per the details, the 40-seat coaster had started its journey from tehsil headquarters Baloch and after hardly seven kilometres developed a technical fault, according to some witnesses, who said the vehicle first hit the mountain on the left side of the road and then suddenly turned right and fell more than 500 metres down the road.
Deputy Inspector General Rashid Naeem Khan revealed that 22 people had died in the accident. He said five of the injured were sent to Kotli district, while three were transported to Baloch.
Former AJK minister Sardar Farooq Ahmed Tahir also rushed to the scene along with rescuers, said 21 bodies had been recovered from the accident site, while one of the injured succumbed to his injuries in the Baloch Rural Health Centre.
Some of the deceased were identified as four-year-old Mujtaba, Abida Mustafa, Umar Bashir, Abdul Hai, Noureen, Abdul Karim, Barkat Khan, Zubaida Kousar, Muhammad Safeer, Rukhsana Khanum, Jamil Qureshi, Mansoor, Muhammad Shafi, Nazir Abdul Karim, Naila, Haroon Gaghar, Adnan Tariq, Rashid Begum and nine-year-old Mahira.
