At least five people were killed and seven injured after an avalanche hit a hill station in Pakistan’s Abbottabad district on Tuesday.

The injured people were taken to a nearby hospital where several of them are said to be in critical condition.

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According to the media report, several vehicles were also hit and over two dozens remained missing in the avalanche, which also triggered a landslide in Nathia Gali resort of the district.

Rescue work is still underway to recover the trapped people from the ice heaps, the reports further said.

In 2017, 14 people were killed in an avalanche in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

In 2014, Pakistan’s military had said that an avalanche in the northern mountains left four soldiers dead while 22 others have been rescued after “heroic efforts” by the army.

Avalanches and landslides are common in the region, which has witnessed heavy snowfall in recent months.

In 2012, an avalanche in the Pakistan-controlled part of the Siachen glacier killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers.

Siachen is located on the northern tip of Kashmir, a Himalayan region which is divided between Pakistan and neighbouring India.