Over and over again: Four killed as van falls into ravine in AJK

At least 14 people have perished in road accidents since year’s start.

MUZAFFARABAD: It has not been two weeks into the new year, and 14 people have lost their lives in separate traffic accidents in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

In the latest road tragedy, four people, including a woman, lost their lives and five others sustained injuries near Jeeng Pateka, 35 kilometres from Muzaffarabad on Sunday.

Giving details, local police said a Muzaffarabad-bound jeep fell into a deep ravine while negotiating a sharp curve near Jeeng leading to the death of four persons on the spot.

Locals rushed to the site, collected the bodies and shifted the injured to the basic health unit (BHU) Pateka. Medical staff at the BHU said that the injured were in stable condition.

The deceased were identified as Mangta Baga, Begum Noor, Ahmad Ali and Abdul Ghafoor while the injured were identified as Ghulam Murtaza, Mir Hussain, Nisar Ahmad, Muhammad Sadiq and Muhammad Sulaiman.

A day before, two people had died in separate road accidents in the state. A Chanari-bound bus hit and killed a 12th grade student at Chatter Chowk near the Supreme Court building in Muzaffarabad city. The same day, a van fell into a ravine while negotiating a sharp curve in Kotli district. The driver died on the spot while an occupant received serious injuries.

On the first day of 2015, as many as eight people were killed while another three were injured when a Muzaffarabad-bound van fell into the Jhelum River near Asgharabad. It was reported that the vehicle was not mechanically fit to make the journey from Rawalpindi, and despite repeated requests by passengers to check potential faults, the driver kept on riding only to lead to an accident.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.