Five killed as car hits dumper on N-H 34

Kolkata: Five persons were killed when a car they were travelling in collided head on with a dumper on National Highway 34 in Malda in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Police said the car carrying five passengers, including the driver hit the dumper coming from the opposite direction in Vaishnabnagar

area of Malda.

The incident had caused traffic congestion on the busy National Highway 34 on Tuesday morning. All the injured victims were declared brought dead after being taken to a local health centre.

They were rushed to Silampur Gramin Hospital at Kaliachak where the doctors pronounced all the victims dead. According to police, four of the same family died, while the remaining one was the driver of the vehicle.

They have been identified as Murli Prasad (66), his wife Koushalya Prasad (55) and their two sons Munna Prasad (39) and Pappu Prasad (29). Sanjay Mondal (30) was the driver of the car.

Police have come to know that Prasad family used to run their own business. They were all residents of Bibigram area of Malda, who were returning home after attending a marriage ceremony at Rampurhat in Birbhum.

Mondal was a resident of Rabindra Bhavan area. They started their journey on late Monday night and the accident occurred at Vaishnabnagar when the dumber was coming from a wrong direction. The situation was brought under control following the intervention of senior

police officers.

According to the preliminary investigation, police said the car was at a high speed when the accident took place.

People told the police that at around 4 am they heard a loud thud. On rushing to the spot, they found the car in complete shambles and the passengers remained trapped inside the vehicle.

The driver of the dumper fled the spot immediately after the accident.

Locals took part in the rescue operation but they faced difficulties in bringing out the injured victims from the car.

After being informed, police reached the spot and rescued the victims from the mangled portion of the car.

All the victims had serious injuries in their bodies.

Police have seized both the vehicles after the accident. Police are not ruling out the possibility of the driver falling asleep at the time of the accident.

The investigators are conducting a probe into the incident. Raids are being conducted to nab the driver of the dumper who has been absconding since the incident

took place.