RAWALPINDI, June 3: A crowded bus carrying a wedding party skidded off the road and plunged into a ravine near Kahuta on Sunday night, killing 12 people and injuring 33 people, police said. The condition of some of the passengers was stated to be serious.

Police said the bus was on way to Chakwal and fell into the ravine while negotiating a turn at about 11,30pm.

Inspector Raja Saleem told this reporter by phone from the scene of the accident that the injured were pulled out of the ill-fated bus by volunteers and taken to a nearby hospital. The rescuers were facing problems in pulling the victims out of the bus because it was dark, he said.

He confirmed that many women and children were among those injured in the crash.

Emergency was declared in the three government-run hospitals in the Rawalpindi area and ambulances had been sent to the scene of the accident.