Two persons were killed when an "overloaded" truck overturned over a small vehicle at Panskura in East Midnapore on Thursday morning.
The victims were residents of Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas.
Police said after speaking to local people who witnessed the incident, one of the front wheels of the truck had burst when it was heading towards Panskura.
The driver of the overloaded vehicle failed to control it after a tyre had burst and it overturned on another smaller vehicle that was parked on the side of the Panskura-Ghatal State Highway.
The driver of the offending vehicle fled soon after the accident. Local people rushed to the spot hearing the cries of the two persons who were inside the smaller vehicle.
Local people initiated the rescue work and somehow, managed to cut a portion of the smaller vehicle with an electric cutter and brought both of them out. The police reached the spot by that time and took both of them to hospital where they were declared brought dead. The police contacted the victims' family members.
The incident led to massive traffic congestion on the state highway. Senior police officers intervened to restore normal movements of vehicles on the important thoroughfare. It took around an hour to clear the road. Local people claimed that the tyre had burst as the truck was overloaded. They demanded proper initiative to check plying of overloaded vehicles that claimed lives of the two youth. The police officers assured that the step would be taken for the same.