PURI: IN a tragic accident, at least five members of a family died and two others sustained injuries after a pickup van they were travelling in, overturned and fell into a ditch near Rua village under Chandanpur police limits in the district on Tuesday.
According to Chandanpur police, the family members from Lal Kamanga village under Jarada police limits in Ganjam district had started their journey in two vehicles on Monday midnight for immersing the ashes of a relative in Puri sea.
Family sources said they had all halted on New Jagannath Sadak for a tea break and after refreshment, the two vehicles started their onward journey. While one vehicle left early, the other van with seven passengers followed them a little later.
At about 5.30 am on Tuesday, the driver of the second vehicle lost control over the steering near Rua village and it skidded off the road before plunging into a roadside ditch.Locals rescued the passengers of the ill-fated vehicle and rushed the injured to Chandanpur hospital and Puri district headquarters hospital where five of them were declared brought dead. The deceased are K Krishna (50), wife K Yamabati (40), his brother Jagadish (40), nephew Abhimanyu (7) and niece Hemlata (5). After post-mortem, police handed over the bodies to their family who were also travelling in another vehicle.
Sub-Collector and fire personnel reached the spot and recovered the vehicle from the ditch.Meanwhile, sources said the bodies have reached their village in Ganjam district which is engulfed in grief as the news of the death of the family members spread.