ISLAMABAD, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A passenger van plunged into a river in northern Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region on Monday, leaving 20 people killed and five others injured, an official said.
The van was on its way to Rawalpindi city of Punjab province from GB's Skardu district when it fell into a river from a high mountainous road while passing by one of the towns of the district in the early hours of Monday, Faizullah Faraq, a spokesman for the GB government told Xinhua.
He said that all of the injured including three kids and a woman are in critical condition, and they are also receiving some unconfirmed reports that one of the five injured has succumbed to injuries.
"There were 25 people on board the van including three soldiers who were heading back to their workplace in Rawalpindi after spending holiday with their families in GB. The cause of the accident has not been determined yet, and the government has directed the commissioner of Skardu to submit a report after probing into the incident," Faraq added.
