Fatal glitch: Eight killed as van plunges in river

Driver loses control of Muzzafarabad-bound van

ISLAMABAD: As many as eight people were killed while another three were injured when a passenger van fell into Jhelum River near Asgharabad, some 10 kilometres away from the Azad Jammu and Kashmir capital.

According to the police, a Muzaffarabad-bound van coming from Rawalpindi fell into the river owing to some technical fault.

“The van was not fit to make the journey. There was a constant noise in the van from Rawalpindi,” an injured passenger told the media, adding that despite repeated requests the driver paid no heed to the noise and did not stop to check its source.

The injured passenger further said the driver lost the control of the vehicle at Asgharabad after which it plunged into the freezing river after smashing the roadside parapets. Police, Rescue 1122, locals and volunteers of Jamaatud Dawa initiated the rescue operation and pulled the bodies and injured passengers from the wreckage.

The rescue teams shifted the injured to the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences and Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayad Al-Nahyan Hospital in Muzaffarabad. The doctors said two injured passengers are in critical condition.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2014.