Shimla, April 10 (IANS): Seven people, including five of a family from Jharkhand, were killed Thursday when their vehicle skidded off the road in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, police said.

The dead included three children.

The people were travelling in a pick-up vehicle when it rolled down 1,200 feet near Jangi village, some 40 km from district headquarters Rekong Peo, Deputy Superintendent of Police Kushal Kumar told IANS over phone.

The victims were travelling from Lippa to Jangi.

The cause of the accident is yet to be ascertained, he said.

Witnesses said police had a tough time extricating the bodies stuck in a gorge.

Kinnaur is one of the remotest places in the state. Buses plying there have poor frequency, and this scarcity of means of transport often leads to overcrowding of vehicles.

This is the second biggest accident in the state in the past three days.

Seventeen people were killed April 7 when their overloaded mini-bus rolled down a 400 feet gorge in Sirmaur district.