LAYYAH: Seven people, among them five children, died and 15 others were injured when the van ferrying them to school collided with a truck on M.M. Road as dense fog reduced visibility near Chak 228-TDA on Friday.

The van was carrying 20 students along with the driver and his wife when the vehicle rammed into a truck in a Fatehpur police precinct.

Aleem, 38, who was driving the van, Maria, 32, his wife, their daughter Maryam, 5, and their son Kamran, 5, stu-dents Muazullah and Subhan Shahid, both 10 years old, and Abdul Samad, a student of class 8, died on the spot. Police said 15 other students travelling in the van were injured.

Of them, 10 students were taken to the Fatehpur Tehsil Headquarters Hospital for treatment and two were referred to the District Headquarters Hospital in Layyah.

Doctors referred three students with serious head injuries to the Nishtar Hospital in Multan.

DCO Wajid Ali Shah said a team of orthopaedics and general surgeons was treating the injured students at the Fatehpur THQ hospital.