Rawalpindi: At least, eight passengers were killed and over 40 sustained injuries when on Tuesday morning a Rawalpindi-bound mini-bus (coaster) plunged into a 200-foot deep ravine while taking a sharp turn near village Panjar, falling in the jurisdiction of Kahuta Police Station, ‘Rescue-1122’ and police sources said.

The minor son of the driver was also killed in the accident. The driver, who was critically injured, was shifted to Rawalpindi.The accident reportedly occurred due to rash driving as the driver lost control over the steering wheel due to over-speeding at a dead slope, eyewitnesses said adding that the seating capacity of the mini-bus was 25, but around 50 passengers were on board, “More than 20 passengers were riding on the roof of the mini-bus,” they said.

An official of the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Qazi Tallat, when contacted by this correspondent, said that 39 injured passengers and seven dead bodies were shifted to the hospital. The dead body of another passenger was shifted to the hospital after six hours of the accident. As many as 32 passengers were later shifted to different hospitals of Rawalpindi, including Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ), while the remaining were discharged after medical assistance.

Nauman Maqsood, who was present at the scene and collected information from people, told this correspondent that the coaster bearing registration number LHQ-9350 left Narh at about 7:30 a.m. with around 50 passengers on board. He said that many passengers were travelling on the rooftop of the coaster.