Five persons who were heading to Calcutta in a car from Gaya in Bihar were killed when their vehicle skidded and plunged into the Khudia river near Dhanbad at 5.30am on Tuesday.

The driver had apparently nodded off, causing the mishap on the Khudia bridge, 15km from Dhanbad.

Residents and passers-by informed police about the mishap after which a team of cops came to the site and brought out the bodies from the car in the river.

The bodies were then sent for post-mortem at the Patliputra Medical and Hospital (PMCH).

Officer in-charge of Govindpur police station Surendra Prasad said the five persons — driver Sacchidanand Sanyal, Akhlaque Ahmad, Danish Nawaj and his wife Ambren Nawaj and their three-year-old daughter Anavya Nawaj — were killed in the accident.

“Prima facie it seems the car skidded because the driver fell asleep and it hit the bridge railing. It fell 50m into the river,” said Prasad, adding eyewitnesses had told the police that the car jumped and turned before falling into the river.

The car in Khudia river

“We will hand over the bodies to the family of the deceased after post-mortem,” said Prasad, adding that a case of negligent driving against the driver would also be lodged.

“It seems the multiple injuries caused after the fall coupled with suffocation might have led to the deaths but the exact cause will be known only after the post-mortem report comes,” said Prasad.

“The family, a native of Gaya, were living in Calcutta for the past few years and had gone to Gaya ahead of Id. They were returning to Calcutta,” said Prasad. A Govindpur policeman said the victims had last called their family in Calcutta around 4.15am.