Eleven people were killed and two injured when a passenger van plunged into the Yasin River in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan, in northern Pakistan, on the evening of Thursday, November 12, police said. The dead included an infant, and all of those killed and injured were residents of Yasin Valley.

Source: Pakistan Today (police account), via KhabarWire

Pakistan Today reported that the van was travelling from Gilgit towards Yasin Valley when the driver lost control and the vehicle went into the river. Geo News, citing rescue officials, gave the same toll from the same accident and described the van as bound for Hundur, a village in the upper part of the valley, adding that the search for anyone else who might have been aboard was still running when it filed its report.

Source: Geo News (rescue officials), via KhabarWire

11People killed, including an infant, per police
2People injured in the plunge
12 NovEvening the van went into the Yasin River near a bridge in Ghizer district

What is settled — and what is not

The two accounts differ on the name of the bridge near where the van left the road: the police account carried by Pakistan Today placed the loss of control near Morkah Bridge, while Geo News placed the accident near Noh Bridge. The number of injured also moved at different stages of the night before settling at two alongside the toll of 11 dead.

Source: Pakistan Today / Geo News, via KhabarWire

What is solid

  • A passenger van plunged into the Yasin River in Ghizer district on the evening of November 12 (police).
  • Eleven people were killed, including an infant, and two were injured; all were residents of Yasin Valley.
  • The van was travelling from Gilgit towards Yasin Valley when it left the road.

What is only claimed

  • The bridge near the crash site is named differently by the two accounts — Morkah Bridge (police via Pakistan Today) and Noh Bridge (Geo News).
  • Why the van left the road is NOT established: police said an investigation is under way and no cause has been published.

Gilgit-Baltistan's chief minister issued a statement on the crash, according to the reporting, and police said an investigation was under way to determine the cause. No account of that cause had been published when the reports were filed.

Source: Pakistan Today, via KhabarWire

A road network with a long record of such crashes

The Ghizer accident came five days after a passenger bus travelling from Hunza to Rawalpindi collided with a trailer near the Havelian Interchange on the Hazara Motorway, killing eight people and injuring 30, the National Highways and Motorway Police said, with an investigation launched into that crash as well. Mountain roads across Gilgit-Baltistan and northern Pakistan — narrow, steep and often running directly above rivers — produce a steady toll of plunge and collision accidents, and Thursday's crash is among the deadliest single-vehicle incidents reported in the region this year.

Source: Geo News / NHMP, via KhabarWire

Why this matters beyond Ghizer

For the lakhs of families across northern Pakistan who depend on shared vans and buses on river-valley roads, every such crash reopens the same questions: vehicle condition, driver hours, road barriers above river drops, and how quickly rescue teams can reach a gorge at night. None of those questions has an official answer yet in this case.

What happens next: police said the investigation into why the van left the road continues, and the search operation described by rescue officials was still running when the first full reports were filed. This story will be updated if officials publish a cause or revise the toll.