MUZAFFARABAD: At least three people were killed and five others injured, three critically, when a passenger jeep plunged off a steep road in Neelum Valley on Monday evening, police said.

The jeep, carrying around 10 persons, including the driver, was heading to Sosal village via a steep link road branching from Kundal Shahi, located some 73 kilometres northeast of here.

While negotiating a sharp bend in the second cut, the vehicle rolled backward out of the driver’s control and plunged onto a lower section of the same road around 5:30 pm, said SP Neelum Khawaja Siddique.

He said that according to an initial report, three people,identified as Gohar Ali, 22, son of Karamat Shah (driver), Ansar Bibi, 50, wife of Abdul Hameed, and Mujahid Shah, 33, son of Imdad Shah,had died on the spot.

Five injured passengers were identified as Syed Rafique Shah, 25, Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf, 47, Chaudhry Abdul Hameed, 45, Fiaza Kazmi, 11, and Ishaq Ismail. Of them, Mr Ismail was allowed to go home due to minor injuries, and the rest were hospitalized, the SP said.