Passenger truck plunges into river in Pakistan; 9 dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistani police say nine people drowned when a vehicle plunged off a mountainous road into a river in the country’s northwest.

Officer Hafeezur Rehman says the passenger truck was carrying more than twenty people to the Gadar area on Sunday, when it toppled off a road in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Rehman says the road’s condition caused the accident.

Police said seven people have been rescued from the river, and efforts were underway to retrieve bodies.

In Pakistan, bad road conditions, disregard for traffic rules and ignorance about safety standards often caused such fatal accidents.