The school van in which 11 people were travelling plunged into a ravine and burst into flames in Murree on Tuesday, injuring mostly schoolchildren, rescue officials said.
The accident happened close to Lower Mohra Barahotra on Angoori Road, where the driver was allegedly losing control of the vehicle, which then veered off the road. According to BOL News report School Van plunge into Murree ravine catches fire, 11 injured, the vehicle was transporting students from private and government schools.
Rescue 1122 teams arrived at the scene and put out the fire and evacuated the occupants. 11 persons were rushed to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Murree for treatment.
Later Murree District Police Officer Raza Tanveer went to the hospital to check on the injured, BOL News said. Eight children were reported to be in stable condition and three students were referred elsewhere for further treatment.
The initial report indicated that the vehicle was transporting 11 people when it only had eight seats. A battery spark was also suspected as a cause of the fire.
According to BOL News, the preliminary findings said the van in question did not have a fire extinguisher at the time of the incident.
A separate report by Dawn also confirmed that 11 persons were injured when a school van went off the road and caught fire in Murree. According to Dawn quoting Rescue 1122, most of the passengers were children between 4 and 14 years of age, of whom nine were burnt and two were unhurt.
The incident has once again raised doubts on the safety of vehicles used to transport schoolchildren, especially the capacity of the vehicles, emergency equipment and maintenance of the vehicles.
Authorities are investigating the crash and the circumstances of how the vehicle got out of control and what caused the fire. By Tuesday, no other details had been made public about the investigation.
The hilly roads of Murree are very narrow and have sharp bends, and in the case of school and passenger transport, the condition of the vehicle and control by the driver play important roles.
The accident occurred months after another deadly van crash on the Islamabad-Murree Expressway. According to Radio Pakistan reported 10 people were killed and 13 injured in that accident in June.
