Five people died on the spot while two succumbed to injuries later after their vehicle plunged 400 feet down a gorge in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, officials said.
The taxi in which they were travelling went out of the driver's control and plunged down the gorge near Shaitani Nallah on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, a police officer told IANS.
Five people died on the spot, while three critically injured passengers were taken to Srinagar for specialised treatment. Two of the injured, including the driver, succumbed on the way to the hospital.
Six of the dead were labourers from other states while the driver was a resident of Pampore town in the Kashmir Valley.
The taxi was going to Srinagar from Jammu after the highway reopened on Thursday for one-way traffic after being closed for four days.