Three persons were killed on Friday morning near East Midnapore’s Digha when a bus collided with a vegetable truck and careened sideways into two other vehicles near a bend on NH116B.

The incident occurred around 7am and left 15 others injured, three grievously. All were rushed to Tamluk district hospital, from where two of them were referred to NRS Medical College and Hospital in Calcutta.

“The incident occurred in the Narghat area in Chandipur and involved a Howrah-bound bus originating from Khejuri, a vegetable truck, and two other vehicles,” said a police officer.

Two of the deceased were identified as Lalmohan Naik, 48, a bus driver from Khejuri, and passenger Bhupati Charan Das, 51, also from the same area. The third victim remained unidentified till late on Friday.

The driver of one of the other vehicles, Sanat Mondal who was behind the vegetable truck, said the Howrah-bound bus “appeared out of nowhere” from the opposite direction.

“That was probably because he was speeding through the turn,” Mondal added. He suffered injuries.

The mangled remains of the vehicles halted commercial and tourist traffic on the busy highway for over three hours. The police cleared the highway by removing the vehicles with cranes shortly after 10am.

Sub-divisional police officer (Tamluk) Atish Biswas said primary investigations had revealed a truck was parked on the side of the road on which the accident occurred.

“The Howrah-bound bus overtook a standing trailer and hit a truck travelling in the opposite direction. Then he lost control and hit two more cars. Among the dead were the bus driver and two bus passengers. The body of one person has not been identified yet. His approximate age is 65,” the SDPO said.