10 killed, 16 injured as van falls into ditch in Pakistan

Peshawar: At least 10 people, including women and children, were killed and 16 others injured when the van they were traveling in plunged into a deep ditch in Pakistan’s mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, officials said.

The van was going from Mardan district to Kalkot in Upper Dir district (290 km north of provincial capital Peshawar) when the driver failed to negotiate a sharp turn on a hill road, they said.

According to the hospital administration, the dead included three women and two children.

The injured, who are said to be in critical conditions, have been shifted to the district hospital in Dir Kohistan, the officials said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan expressed profound grief over the loss of lives and directed aid for the injured.