At least eight passengers of a family, including women and children, died on Thursday after a pickup fell into a gorge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Buner.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Niaz Muhammad Khan told Dawn.com that the pickup truck was travelling from Buner’s Sawari area to Shangrai Kandao when it suffered the fatal accident.

He said the bodies of the deceased — five women, two children and a man — were moved to their houses in Shangrai Kandaw.

The Rescue 1122 official said it seemed that either the driver lost control of the steering wheel or there was a technical fault in the pickup, resulting in the vehicle falling into a 1600-foot-deep gorge from the rough dilapidated road.

The spokesperson identified the deceased as residents of of Shangrai Kandao’s Shahi village.

Sub-divisional Police Officer Amjad Khan told Dawn.com that a preliminary report was registered at Gul Bandai police station and further investigation would be initiated, adding that the bodies were handed over to relatives.

Last month, five passengers were killed and 19 injured when a bus fell into a gorge in Khanpur tehsil.

The majority of link roads in the mountainous districts of North Pakistan have been badly affected by the recent rainfall due to which travel on them has become difficult and dangerous.