Twenty-one people were killed when a matador van in which they were traveling plunged into a gorge in Kishtwar district of India-controlled Kashmir early Monday, a senior Indian police official said, Xinhua reported.
"The death toll could rise later in the day as rescue operations are on to retrieve the bodies trapped in the gorge at a place named Banderkoot," the official said.
Though the exact cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained, he said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the van skidded off the road as it was traveling more than the stipulated speed.
"We will wait for a detailed probe to come to a conslusion. A case of rash driving could be filed against the driver who is also suspected to have died in the mishap," he said.
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