Darjeeling: A tourist vehicle on the way back from Sikkim met with an accident on Tuesday, leaving 5 dead and 3 grievously injured.
The accident occurred when members of two families from Odisha were returning from Zuluk in east Sikkim to New Jalpaiguri in the plains.
The vehicle they were travelling in skidded around 600 meters away from the road between Lohapool and Suntaley on National Highway 10. 5 persons from the two families died on the spot.
According to police sources, the deceased include Avijit Rath (45), Sulochona Panda (63), Shakuntala Nanda (60), Ratikanta Nanda (66) and Sabita Nanda. Drivers of other vehicles aided by local residents subsequently tried to rescue the passengers of the ill-fated vehicle.
Police from the Rambhi police outpost soon reached the spot. They rescued Dolly Das (52), Shwethapadma Nanda (37) and Sneha Rath (9). The injured were rushed to Siliguri. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Bhupal Chettri of Sikkim, has also been critically injured.
The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post mortem. The family had arrived
at Siliguri 5 day ago and had visited Zuluk. They had left Zuluk on Tuesday afternoon for NJP.