The bodies of eight labourers were retrieved from inside a van that got buried Monday night under the rubble from a sudden landslide near the Khushi point on the Karakoram Highway, authorities confirmed.
Rescue workers "have successfully recovered the bodies of eight people from inside the van", the station house officer (SHO) present at the site said.
With the rescue work underway, police said the information they received, the number of people inside the van all of whom were labourers was between 8 and 12.
The Karakoram Highway was subsequently closed off for traffic.
Police further said heavy machinery had been summoned to retrieve the trapped labourers safely.
