CUTTACK: Three persons, including the son of a former Congress MP, were killed after a Jaguar car in which they were travelling skidded off the road and fell into a canal on the side of NH-16 near Telengapentha here in the wee hours on Saturday.
The deceased have been identified as Ankur Pradhan (37), son of former Sambalpur MP Amar Pradhan, his friend Gautam Dash (40) of Gopalpur and Praneek Madhu Pati of Berhampur. The road mishap took place at about 3 am when the Jaguar car was on its way from Gopalpur to Bhubaneswar.
Sources said the three were travelling to Berhampur after attending the obsequies of Dash’s father.
The driver of the speeding vehicle lost control over it as a result of which, it skidded off the road and fell into Phulnakhara distributary canal.
Hearing the accident sound, locals rushed to the spot and found the car submerged in the canal water. They then informed Sadar police who rushed to the spot and rescued them with the help of fire personnel.
The injured trio was then admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the driver got confused near the flyover bridge having a service road and lost control over the vehicle following which it skidded off the road and fell into the canal after breaking a roadside tree. As the car got locked from inside, we have to take the help of fire personnel to rescue the occupants,” said Cuttack Sadar IIC Sudhansu Bhusan Jena.
While the mangled luxury car has been seized, police have launched an investigation into the accident.