Three persons were killed and 10 injured in Murshidabad’s Sagardighi around 3am on Wednesday, when an NBSTC bus from Calcutta to Cooch Behar rammed into a stationary truck that had broken down a little while before.

The accident occurred on an active flank of NH12 near Ratanpur village.

The truck, which had been standing on the highway after its brakes failed, had no occupants when the accident occurred.

Sagardighi police said their patrol team rushed to the spot on being informed about the accident. The patrol team had anyway been approaching the truck stranded on the highway, but the accident occurred before they could tow the truck away.

“Our team had been approaching the area to respond to the safety hazard posed by the goods truck,” said district police chief Y. Raghuvamshi.

The deceased were identified as bus driver Nandan Dey, 50, from Cooch Behar, conductor Krishanu Pal, 52, from Madhyamgram, and passenger Ashok Mandal, 51, from Assam.

All the injured were either attendants or passengers of the bus. Police rushed them to Jangipur subdivisional hospital, where the three were declared dead on arrival. Five critically injured were referred to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital for intensive treatment.

“We concur that the bus driver could not estimate that the truck was motionless and that caused the crash,” added SP Raghuvamshi.

At 3am, visibility would have also been poor.

Police have conducted post-mortems and handed over the three bodies to their respective families. Cases of unnatural death have been started.