Pakistan bus plunge leaves at least 22 dead

A bus fell into a river today in the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir, leaving at least 22 people dead and 24 more injured, an official said.

The accident happened at Chinari town on the outskirts of the regional capital, Muzaffarabad, said Liaquat Hussain, a deputy commissioner.

Eight of the injured passengers were flown to Muzaffarabad for treatment, and a vehicle from the International Committee of the Red Cross took others to a clinic in Chinari, said Red Cross spokeswoman Jessica Barry.

Barry said a baby among the eight flown for treatment died in a hospital. It wasn’t immediately clear if that fatality was included among the 22 reported by Pakistani authorities.

Separately, two people died when a car they were travelling in fell into a Kashmir river near Muzaffarabad, Hussain said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the accidents. Roads in Kashmir have been devastated by the October 8 quake that killed 87,000 people in northern Pakistan and Kashmir.