Three persons from a family were killed on the spot in a road accident in Murshidabad on Tuesday morning.

The accident occurred when a speeding truck collided head on with a motorcycle on NH12 near Chuapur village, on the outskirts Behrampore, around 6am.

The incident occurred when stationery shop owner Indrajit Saha, 28, wife Sumita, 26, and fatherinlaw Gopal Datta, 49, were travelling on the twowheeler to Murshidabad Medical College for their first doses of Covid19 vaccine. The trio were reportedly not wearing helmets when the accident occurred.

“The victims were on their way for a 10am appointment but wanted to be there early because they heard there was a token system to administer vaccines on a first come first served basis,” said a police officer.

Eyewitness Mohammad Samsuddin, who was trailing the truck that was going in the opposite direction of the highway, said: “The accident occurred in front of my eyes. I was shocked at what happened and stopped at a distance. The truck had hastily tried to overtake another vehicle and collided headon with the motorcycle, running over everyone on the spot. It fled immediately.”

The killer truck fled from the spot after the accident but was later found abandoned near a local riverbank.

The police have started a case of unnatural death and sent the bodies for postmortem. The police said the driver could be booked under IPC 304 once apprehended.

The victims were residents of Manindranagar village, 3km from Behrampore town.

“The driver is currently absconding but will be booked under a nonbailable section once found,” said police superintendent K. Sabari Rajkumar.