MANSEHRA: Eight members of a family, including a man, his wife, and four children, were killed when their car plunged into a deep ravine in the Matta Banda area of Lower Kohistan on Thursday.

`We have shifted all eight bodies to a nearby health facility, from where they will be sent to Rawalpindi,` Taimur Khan, district police officer Lower Kohistan, told reporters.

The vehicle was en route to Punjab from Gilgit-Baltistan when the driver, while negotiating a sharp turn on Karakoram Highway, lost control over the steering, resultantly the vehicle veered off road and plunged into a deep gorge near the Indus River.

Personnel from Rescue 1122, police, and local volunteers rushed to the scene and, after hectic one-hour efforts recovered the bodies and shifted them to the District Headquarters Hospital, Pattan.

DPO Taimur Khan said the accident occurred in a particularly dangerous section of the highway adjacent to the Indus River.

He commended the professionalism of the rescue teams in retrieving the bodies and transporting them to the hospital.

The victims were identified as Asif Iqbal of Rawalpindi, his wife Memona Iqbal, their four children, and two relatives, Aisha Siddique and Bushra Waseem.