Gangtok, Dec 23 (IANS): Sixteen Army jawans were killed and four others injured when their vehicle skidded off the road and fell into a gorge at a remote location in North Sikkim near the India-China border on Friday.

According to a senior police officer, the injured have been airlifted to an Army hospital in North Bengal.

The mishap took place at around 8 a.m. at Zema 3, about 15 kms away from Lachen, located at a distance of around 130 km away from State capital Gangtok.

Chungthang Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Arun Thatal informed that the Army vehicle was heading towards the border posts with 20 occupants. The vehicle seemed to have veered off the road while negotiating a curve in the Zema 3 area and crashed hundreds of feet down.

All the 16 bodies have been recovered from the crash site. The condition of the four critically injured Army personnel remains unknown, said Thatal, who was at the spot with a police team from Lachen.

The bodies are being taken to State-run STNM Hospital in Gangtok for post-mortem and later will be handed over to the Army. The regiment of the victims is yet to be ascertained, he added.

As per police, the Army vehicle had been picking up the Army personnel on the way as it was heading towards its destination.