MANSEHRA: Six members of a family died and two others sustained critical injuries when a jeep plunged into a ravine in Burparo area of Kolai-Palas district in the early hours on Wednesday.

“We have shifted the deceased and the injured to Civil Hospital, Pattan, after retrieving them from a difficult mountainous ditch,” Sajid Ali, Lower Kohistan head of Rescue 1122, told reporters.

He said the jeep carrying members of a family was on its way to Burparo area from Sargai Abad when the driver lost control while negotiating a sharp turn on a mountainside road, plunging the vehicle into deep gorge.

The rescue official said locals shifted the deceased and the injured to Civil Hospital Pattan, the district headquarters of Lower Kohistan, wherefrom four seriously injured — including Nazia Bibi, Alam Zeb, Sakina Bibi and wife of Isa Khan — were referred to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital, Abbottabad. However, Alam Zeb succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital.

Sajid Ali said the other deceased were identified as the wife and daughter of Sarbuland Khan, wife of Mullah Khan, driver Sher Wali, and Nowsher Khan.

He said the rescue operation was carried out without ambulances as there was no road infrastructure in the mountainous part of Kolai-Palas district.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2023