15 dead as school bus plunges into Kashmir river

A van carrying about 30 schoolchildren plunged into a river in Pakistani Kashmir killing at least 15.

Four injured children and the driver were rescued, but police fear most of the other passengers have drowned.

Local police chief Ghulam Akber said authorities managed to save the driver and four children after the accident on Tuesday in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

But school teacher Bashir Mughal said rescue workers arrived more than an hour after the accident, and it was local villagers who plucked the four children from the water.

Akber said 11 bodies have been recovered from various points in the river, but the other children are still missing.