Five youths died on Saturday night after the car they were travelling went off a hilly road near Kurseong and fell into a 500-foot-deep gorge.

Policemen and firemen recovered the bodies of college students Subrata Das, Bikram Das, Rishav Das and Arghya Kundu and found the wreckage of the car early on Monday. By evening, the body of the fifth, Class XII schoolboy Raj Singh, was also recovered, police sources said.

Sources said that on Saturday, the five youths, who are from Rathkhola and Deshbandhupara of the city, had decided to celebrate Independence Day.

“The father of one of these boys owns a car. So they took out the car and went to Malbazar and Lataguri in the Dooars on Saturday morning. They returned in the evening and then decided to leave for Kurseong,” said Rinki Das, former councilor of ward 22 in which Ratkhola is located.

“As the night rolled on, their families grew worried and started contacting them on phone. After 11.30pm, they could not be contacted,” she added.

When the youths did not return on Sunday, the anxious families filed missing diaries with Siliguri police.

The police probe revealed that on Sunday night a car went off the Subhash Ghisingh Marg also known as Rohini Road, the commonest route that connects Kurseong with the plains. “We learnt the car had fallen into a gorge near Kargildara, a locality along the road near Kurseong,” said a police officer.

Search operations started at the site and on Monday, the five bodies were found.

“We suspect an accident but we still need to know the exact cause of the deaths of the five youths from post-mortem,” a senior police officer said. “The damaged car will also be examined.”

Shanta Chhetri, a Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamul who is also from Kurseong, has condoled the deaths. “This is just shocking. I contacted police officers in Kurseong as soon as I got to know,”she said.