8 killed, 17 injured in Haripur, Mansehra road mishaps

HARIPUR/ MANSEHRA: Eight people were killed and 17 others sustained injuries in separate road mishaps in Haripur and Mansehra districts on Thursday.

Five passengers, including two women and a minor girl, were killed and 10 others were injured, when a passenger van plunged into a roadside gorge near Chakhaee village in Haripur, officials said.

Police and rescue sources quoted the injured as saying that Umar Bilal, a resident of Swabi Maira village, was to board an international flight for London on Thursday morning and over 15 family members were on board the Hiace van to see him off at Islamabad Airport.

When the van reached near Chakhaee village, they said, the driver lost control over the steering while negotiating a turn as a result the vehicle fell into a roadside ravine, killing two women, two men and a minor girl on the spot. Ten others, including the driver, were injured in the accident. The area people shifted the injured and bodies to Trauma centre where the dead were identified as Safia Bibi, 12, Gulnaz Bibi, Irum Bibi, Abdul Siyar and Muhammad Naveed. The injured included Feroza Bibi, Zahid, Adam Khan, Muhammad Javed, Zakir, Ehsan Abbasi, Shakil, Aleesha Bibi, Nusrat Bibi and Shumaila Bibi. Three of the injured were referred to Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad for tertiary care, hospital sources said.

Meanwhile, three people were killed and seven others injured in two road accidents in Oghi and Balakot in Mansehra district.Police officials said a dumper truck collided head-on with a tri-wheeler and both fell into a ravine in the Tarawara area of Oghi.The locals shifted the injured to the Civil Hospital where doctors pronounced Muhammad Naveed and Muhammad Ilyas, stated to be drivers of auto-rickshaw and the dumper truck, respectively, dead and three others were referred to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital.

In another incident, a boy was killed and four other people sustained injuries when a pickup vehicle plunged into a ravine in Kawai area of Kaghan valley.The driver of the Abbottabad-bound vehicle, while negotiating a sharp turn, lost control over steering on Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road and the vehicle fell into a gorge. The locals shifted the injured to the Civil Hospital in Balakot where doctors pronounced Shah Mir, 11, dead. The injured including Muhammad Afzal, Samira Bibi, Sultan Umar and Abdul Wadood were referred to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital Abbottabad.