MUZAFFARABAD: A van plunged into a ravine in Sudhnoti district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Saturday, leavingthree students dead and the driver wounded, police said.

Two of the deceased were sisters and the third was their cousin.

The vehicle had picked only three students Aroosa, 20, her sister Ageegah, 19, and cousin Shaiba, 16 when it met the accident at about 7:30am while negotiating a curve near Hilla`n Kalalot village, a police official told Dawn by telephone.

`As the van hit the rocky ravine bed it was badly smashed and as a result all three girls were killed on the spot,` the of ficial said, adding the driver, identified as Mohammad Zareef, sustained critical injuries.

The driver was booked under section 320 of Penal Code, which carries a punishment of imprisonment for qatl-i-khata by rash or negligent driving, he said. StaffCorrespondent