Three youths, including a minor, died in an accident on NH512 at South Dinajpur on New Year night, while another was fatally gored by a gaur in Alipurduar.

A night service bus from Balurghat heading towards Cooch Behar instantly killed Sushanta Burman, 16, Partha Burman, 27, and Milan Burman, 18, who were on a bike and residents of Belkuria village, Bansihari police station.

Pankaj Roy, 21, was gored by a gaur in Alipurduar district on Friday evening and later died in hospital. Pankaj, a resident of Kholta, was heading towards Jainti under Buxa Tiger Reserve on his motorcycle when the gaur jumped out of the forest and gored him.

In a separate incident on Friday night, a speeding car rammed into two adult male leopards on NH31 in Jalpaiguri district, leaving the animals and five men in the car injured. An injured leopard managed to get inside the forest. The other was rescued by Banarhat police and Binnaguri wildlife squad and sent to the leopard rescue centre in Lataguri on the fringes of Gorumara National Park. Also, among the five persons, three with severe injuries were sent to a hospital in Jalpaiguri.

The driver had lost control of the car near Gandrapara Tea Estate when the leopards were on the road, a source said.