Summary The speedy van was enroute to Rawalpindi and was taking a turn when the accident happened.
DIR BALA (Dunya News) - At least 11 people were killed and several sustained injuries as a passenger van fell into a ravine near Lowari tunnel in Dir Bala on Sunday.
The speedy van was enroute to Rawalpindi when the driver lost control on a bend of the road, which was slippery with snow and rain.
All the 11 passengers were killed on the spot, while nine others were wounded, four of them critically," Faheedullah Khan, a senior government official, told AFP.
Khan said the van plunged into a ravine which was more than 150 feet (46 metres) deep. The dead included three women, a six-year-old girl and a boy aged seven.
Rescue teams, army personnel, locals and police arrived at the spot after receiving information. Rescue officials pulled out the dead bodies from the ravine and shifted them to district headquarter (DHQ) hospital.
Five of the killed people belonged to Rawalpindi whereas ther other injured and deceased were from different areas of Chitral.
Meanwhile, at least four people including three children died in collision between truck and rickshaw in Shadbagh area of Lahore.
The rickshaw caught fire after the vehicle’s cylinder exploded. The mishap claimed life of the driver Mitthu and his three children, eight-year-old Farman, six-year-old Rehan and three-year-old Touseef.
Two women, 40-year-old Saima and 35-year-old Sana, were shifted to hospital in critical condition. The affected family was the resident of Data Nagar Sher Shah road. Police say that the accident occurred as the rickshaw driver fell asleep.
Pakistan has an appalling record of fatal traffic accidents due to poor roads, badly-maintained vehicles and reckless driving.
