Sources said five passengers died on the spot while seven others injured seriously when the vehicle hit the hill side. All the occupants of vehicle were residents of Pangi and were returning home from Rewalsar in Mandi district taking Udaipur-Killar route.
Sources said two of seriously injured persons were referred to Kullu in 108 Ambulance while five injured have been admitted at district hospital Keylong. Senior officials from administration and police reached the spot after receiving the information.
Police has registered a case and has started the investigation to know the reasons behind the accident.
Accident data recorded by police shows that on an average around 3000 road accidents are taking place in the state in which around 1000 people are being killed and 5000 others are being injured each year. In 2016 so far, state has recorded 2096 accidents in which around 800 people have been killed and 3919 others injured.
While addressing the meeting of Group of Ministers held in New Delhi on September 15 this year, transport minister G S Bali had requested the Government of India to provide air ambulance facility for the evacuation of road accident victims in hilly areas to provide medical aid well in time to minimize the fatality rate in such accidents. He said that there was a need to up-grade the technology of road engineering and structuring the parameters to be designed with specific references to the hill areas.