ROURKELA: Two engineering students were killed after their motorcycle crashed into the divider of Biju Expressway near Mandiakudar under Rajgangpur police limits in Sundargarh district on Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as Gourav Mohapatra (22) of Banthupada in Rajgangpur town and Chandan Mohapatra (19) of Sector 1 in Rourkela. The duo was reportedly studying at a government-run diploma engineering institute in Rourkela.
Police said the mishap occurred at around 10 am when the duo was on their way to Rourkela from Rajgangpur.
IIC of Rajgangpur police station Bijay Das said the deceased were friends. Chandan had gone to meet Gourav at Rajgangpur. Both were returning to Rourkela on Gourav’s motorcycle when the accident took place.
Das attributed the fatal mishap to overspeeding. “The duo was riding the bike at high speed. Failing to negotiate a road curve, they ended up hitting the divider. Following the mishap, the youths were rushed to the community health centre (CHC)-II at Rajgangpur town where they were declared brought dead,” he said.
Autopsy of the bodies was conducted on Tuesday evening. Further investigation is underway, the IIC added.
Sources said Gourav’s father Suresh Mohapatra donated his son’s eyes before the postmortem.
