MUZAFFARABAD: At least 29 schoolchildren aged between 5 and 14, along with their driver, were injured on Tuesday after a van plunged off a treacherous hilly road in the Jhelum Valley district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), police said.

The victims, all students of the private Islamia Public School in the town of Chikar, were on their way home when the van met with the accident near a spot known asTambrial Mor at about 2:35pm, said Jhelum valley`s SP Mirza Zahid Hussain.

Chikar, a well-known hill station, is situated about 46 kilometres from Muzaffarabad at an altitude of 5,272 feet.

As a winter station, its educational institutions remain open during summer and observe extended winter vacations.

Mr Hussain said it was believed that after negotiating a bend, the vehicle went out of the driver`s controland fell off the road, causing injuries to nearly everyone on board.

According to him,16 injured children were taken to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Chikar, while the driver and 13 children were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospitalin Hattian Bala.

Later, all children from the THQ Hospital and eight from the DHQ Hospital were discharged after improvement in their condition.

However,two children remained under treatment at the DHQ Hospital, and three others along with the driver were referred to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Muzaffarabad, he said.

A video clip shared by him showed the overturned van resting on a steep, forested slope, surrounded by local residents rushing to help.

`Had it not been for the tall trees that broke the fall, the van could have rolled further down the slope, resulting in heavier losses,` the SP said.