Muzaffarabad, May 17: Eight persons, including a couple, were drowned while five others were recovered with injuries after a passenger jeep they were traveling in plunged into the river in Neelum valley on Thursday, police said.
 The ill fated vehicle (No. BLN-22) with 13 persons, including the driver, on board fell down the narrow slippery road into Neelum river near the remotest Phulawai Kharri village in the upper belt of northeastern valley this morning as it was on way to Kel, superintendent of police (SP) Javaid Yousuf told Greater Kashmir.
 He said residents of the area launched rescue operation but could recover only five persons in wounded condition whereas the remaining eight were swept away by the violent current and could not be fished out till the filing of this report.
 An official spokesman said that PaK minister for transport Tahir Khokhar had ordered an inquiry to determine the cause of the accident.
 After a recent road accident near here in which nearly a dozen people were killed the transport ministry had passed directions to district administration officials to check overloading in public transport besides taking those vehicles off roads which had been altered to accommodate maximum number of passengers beyond their actual seating capacity. However, the ban is yet to take effect in remote rural areas.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 17 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 IST