Bhaichung’s party slams SKM for vote bank politics At least three persons were killed and four injured when the vehicle they were travelling in met with an accident at Chakarpada under Simulia police station in Balasore district of Odisha early on Monday.

The victims were travellling from Hooghly of Bengal to Puri to offer prayers to Lord Jagannath. The place where the accident took place is around 200km away from Bhubaneswar.

The deceased have been identified as Parbati Das, 47, and her husband Shankar Rao, 52. The driver of the vehicle, Ibrahim Ghazi, 35, also died on the spot.

One of the survivors, who was travelling in the accident-hit SUV, said: “Nine members of two families were heading to Puri in two separate cars to offer puja at the Jagannath Temple. We left Chinsurah in Hooghly on Sunday night. We were crossing Balasore a little before 6am when a gas container coming from the opposite side lost control after one of its tyres burst and rammed into the SUV.”

The accident took place at a point where a diversion had been implemented because the national highway is undergoing expansion.

An officer of Simulia police station told The Telegraph, “The accident took place around 5.45am on Monday. Expansion of the national highway is going on and the stretch has been converted into a single-lane. A gas container was coming from the opposite direction. Suddenly the front tyre of the gas container burst and the vehicle lost control and rammed into the SUV.”

Such was the impact of the collision that three occupants, including the driver, of the vehicle died on the spot. They had to be dragged out of the mangled remains of the vehicle.

Another car that was following the SUV hit it from behind injuring those occupying the rear seats. Occupants of the second car escaped unhurt. All of them were taken to Soro community hospital.

“The single-lane road is one of the major reasons for the increasing number of accidents on the stretch,” said local journalist Rajaram.

The news of the accident reached Chinsurah around 8am and relatives of those killed rushed to the police station.

“Ibrahim had left home for Puri on Sunday night and we woke up to the news of his death in the morning,” said Hossain Ghazi, the uncle of the driver.

Hossain said they were heading for Balasore to bring back the body.