BALASORE: Three people from West Bengal were killed instantly and three others seriously injured when an ambulance hit a speeding truck on national highway-16 near Dahisada, under Soro police limits on Friday.
The deceased have been identified as Gopi Parmanik of Bajitpur in Bankura district, Partha Sarathi Das of Kaiti village and ambulance driver Talpada Paural of Pasanda village in Bardhaman district.
Police sources said the ill-fated ambulance had in the wee hours jumped over the road divider and hit the truck coming from the opposite direction.
Minaketan Singh, an assistant sub-inspector and eyewitness said the ambulance overtook the police patrolling vehicle and jumped over the road divider.
“It then dashed into the speeding truck. Before we could rescue anybody, three had already died,” he said.
Police inspector Rosalin Behera suspects that the ambulance driver might have dozed off while driving.
“The ambulance carrying five persons, including patient Subir Das, from Bardhaman district headquarters hospital was heading towards SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) in Cuttack,” she said.
Surprisingly, the patient escaped while two of his relatives who sat along with the driver died.
The injured persons - Ashok Mandal of Pasanda and Dhananjay Das of Kaiti village were rushed to Soro community health centre and shifted to SCBMCH after their condition deteriorated.
A local social activist, Buran Ahmed, provided Rs 10,000 and arranged for a private ambulance which took the injured persons to Cuttack hospital.
Meanwhile, the relatives of the deceased were informed and have arrived at Soro and the administration has initiated the process to send the bodies after postmortem.