2 killed, 2 injured as group of tourists face mishap at Gajoldoba

Darjeeling: A group of tourists met with an accident at Gajoldoba in the Jalpaiguri district when the vehicle they were travelling plunged into the Teesta Canal. While two persons died in the incident, two others including a 2 and half-year-old suffered injuries.

The incident occurred on Monday evening when the group of tourists was returning to Siliguri after visiting Gajoldoba. A motorbike had made a sudden appearance in front of the SUV carrying the tourists. The driver of the SUV swerved and plunged into the canal in an attempt to avoid a head-on collision.

Local residents came to the rescue and managed to pull out Prasuna Chatterjee and her son Hiyan Chatterjee (two and a half-year-old) along with the driver. Prasuna's mother Jayashree Chatterjee (70) and her sister Sriparna Chatterjee (48) could not come out of the vehicle and died on the spot.

The injured were rushed to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and were released after treatment. The tourists were from Farm Side Road, Chinsurah in Hooghly.

They were on a tour since October 17 and had visited Darjeeling and Kalimpong. They were scheduled to return home after the Gajoldoba visit. The deceased were cremated in Siliguri on Tuesday.