Two persons died and five were injured in a road accident on the outskirts of Siliguri on Saturday morning.

All were residents of Nadia district on a trip to the hills.

Sources said a seven-member group of friends, mostly in their early 40s, left Nadia on Friday evening in an SUV.

On Saturday morning driving along NH27 as they reached near Saidabad tea estate, 22km from here, the vehicle rammed into the rear of a truck parked on the road.

Residents extricated passengers from the mangled remains of the SUV.

Taken to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, two were pronounced dead by doctors.

“The truck had been parked on the road as it had a flat tyre. The collision happened around 5am. We suspect that the driver didn’t notice the truck in the dense morning fog,” said a police officer.

The deceased friends are Rana Chakraborty, 42, of Gofrapota under Bhimpur police station of Nadia and a hardware shop owner, and Ganesh Sarkar, 43, a civil contractor from Badkulla-Suravisthan under Taherpur police station.

Among the remaining five, three are under treatment at the NBMCH and the other two escaped with minor injuries.

Parimal, Ganesh’s brother, said the group of friends had a great bonding and would often take trips to various tourist destinations in car.

“However, this time, I had cautioned Ganesh to be careful on the road because of the fog and cold,” said the bereaved brother.

Narcotics haul

A team from Matigara police station recovered narcotics worth around Rs 70 lakh from an eatery on the northwest outskirts of Siliguri on Friday night.

One person has been arrested.

Sources said the police raided the eatery at Khaprail More off NH10 and intercepted Ajay Sharma, a resident of Dalkhola of the neighbouring North Dinajpur district.

As the police searched his luggage, 382 grams of brown sugar (a derivative of heroin) was found in it. Investigations have started.