Students killed as bridge collapses

An old wooden bridge over a fast-moving river in Kashmir has collapsed as dozens of students were taking pictures on it, leading to at least five deaths.

Civil and military rescue teams were still searching for 11 others yesterday afternoon, but the bodies of five students had already been recovered.

Javed Ayub, a tourism department official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said the students, most of them in their early 20s, were enrolled in a medical college in the eastern Punjab province and a college in Lahore.

“We hope for the best but it will be difficult to find the remaining (students) alive as the water flow is very high,” said Mr Ayub. He said the hanging bridge was designed for locals to use in small numbers. “The touring youths have not realised the danger.”