MIRPUR (AJK) (APP) - As many as 12 passengers were killed and five others injured as an over-loaded Suzuki van fell into Neelum river from 300 feet height near Pathika village on Neelum Valley road, about 11-km away from Muzaffarabad, the other night.

A senior police official told APP that the Suzuki van bearing NO 749-MDR carrying 17 passengers was on the way from Muzaffarabad to Pathika Town on Neelum Valley Road when it met the accident. Five of the people were survived and recovered from the river in injured condition. They included Qari Rafiq Mir, Muhammad Urfan, Tasleem Ali, Muhammad Najamul Hassan and Waqas who were rushed to Combined Military Hospital in Muzaffarabad.
Six of the bodies were recovered from the sharp currents of the Neelum river. They were identified as Imtiaz son of Abdul Latif, Mazher Hussain son of Muhammad Hussain, Farhad son of Muhammad Rafif, Munir s/o Abdul Karim, Jamila Bibi w/o Muhammad Ayub and Shamaila d/o Muhammad Ayub.
Six other passengers namely Molvi Yasin, Mughees s/o Ayub, Massarat Bibi, Faris Shah, Abdul Karim, Abdul Rehman and the van driver Nadeem Gillani are still missing in the river and the efforts were underway to recover.
Wreckage of the van could also not be fished out, the police sources said. The mishap took place due to over-loading and over speeding, the police said.