A van carrying 21 tourists plunged into a river in Kohistan district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, leaving nine of them killed, according to local media and police.

The passengers were on their way to a hilly resort when their van plunged into River Indus, the largest river in the country, local Urdu TV Channel Dawn News reported.

Police said that seven of the passengers on board managed to jump out of the vehicle when it was falling down, and received minor injuries, while 14 others fell into the river and were swept away by the gushing water of Indus.

Police and rescue teams rushed to the site and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital.

Rescue teams and local volunteers recovered nine bodies while a search for the remaining five is still underway.

The accident happened due to the bad condition of the road and reckless driving, the local police said.