Three women and a child were killed and five others were injured when a speeding SUV hit them at Jhabri along the NH-33 under Chowka police station area in Seraikela-Kharsawan district, around 40km from here, on Thursday afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Kuila Mahato, 12, Surajmani Devi, 35, Chandmani Mahato, 37, and Fulmani Mahato, 65.

They were residents of Pargam village in Kukru block and were standing along the highway for boarding a bus from Jhabri to Pargam, about 20km away, around 2pm when they were mowed down.

Police rushed the four victims to the Seraikela Sadar Hospital, where all of them were declared as brought dead. The cops also rushed the five injured — two children (11 and 14), two elderly women (above 60 years) and a middle-aged man — to the Sadar Hospital but as their condition was serious they were referred to MGM Medical College Hospital for better treatment.

The SUV was coming at a break-neck speed from Ranchi, eyewitnesses said. The driver fled, leaving the vehicle abandoned a little distance away from the spot.

As the victims lay in a pool of blood, around 200 villagers assembled at the spot and set up a blockade in protest against rash driving on the highway. The protesters also demanded compensation for the victims’ family members.

The villagers had put up the blockade around 2.30 pm, bringing movement of vehicles to a grinding halt on the highway. As there were hundreds of vehicles stranded on either side of the mishap spot, the police and administrative officials first tried to persuade the protesters to lift the blockade. As the protestors did not buzz, the police removed the blockade forcibly in the evening.

Chandil sub-divisional police officer Dhirendra Banka said the victims had come to a weekly-haat (market) at Jhabri for buying goods and were about to board a bus to return home when the mishap occurred. “We have seized the SUV with registration number JH05CN-4900 abandoned by its driver. We are trying to trace the driver by getting the vehicle's registration number verified from the district transport office in Jamshedpur,” Banka told The Telegraph.