JEYPORE: Four members of a family including three women were killed after their car rammed into a roadside tree near Chandrapada village within Boipariguda police limits in Koraput district on Friday morning.
Police identified the deceased as Bibhuti Bhusan Behera (30), Ambika Bala Dash (59), Sashi Behera (55) and Padmini Singh Samanta(32), all of Nayagarh. Padmini’s husband Sudipta Singh Samanta (38) and son Pradip Singh Samanta (14) suffered critical injuries in the mishap and are battling for life in the hospital.
Sources said Sudipta along with five of his family members was travelling in a car to spend the summer holidays at his brother-in-law’s place in Malkangiri. Near Chandrapada village, the car driver reportedly dozed off and lost control following which the vehicle hit a roadside tree. While Bibhuti, Ambika and Sashi were killed on the spot, Padmini, Sudipta and Pradip sustained critical injuries.
On being informed, Boipariguda police and fire services personnel rushed to the spot and rescued all the passengers trapped in the mangled car. The injured were rushed to the district headquarters hospital at Jeypore and later shifted to SLN medical college and hospital, Koraput where Padmini succumbed to injuries.
Sudipta’s brother-in-law Rajendra Singh Samanta said he had received a call from Sudipta at around 4 am. “My brother-in-law told me that they had stopped at Jeypore for a tea break. Soon after, we received the news of the tragic incident,” he added.
Boipariguda police seized the bodies for postmortem after registering an unnatural death case in connection with the incident. Further investigation is underway.