Van carrying 30 kids plunges into Pakistan river

[September 20 2010]

A van carrying at least 30 schoolchildren plunged into a river in Pakistan-held Kashmir today, and most of the passengers were confirmed or feared dead. The driver lost control of the vehicle and it plunged 50 feet (15 meters) into the Jhelum River from an elevated road in the regional capital Muzaffarabad, said local police chief Ghulam Akber. Authorities managed to save the driver and four children, he said.

But school teacher Bashir Mughal said rescue workers took more than an hour to arrive and it was local villagers who plucked the four children from the water. Fifteen bodies have been recovered from various parts of the river, but the other children are still missing, Akber said. Some bodies may have been collected by local residents before authorities arrived, he said.