Four persons were killed on the spot and eight others seriously injured after a pickup van by which they were travelling collided head on with a truck on NH-53 near Baghua Chhak under the Jenapur police limits in Jajpur district on Saturday morning.
The van carrying 12 persons was on its way towards Chandikhol from Duburi, where these people were workers in a Tata plant. The truck, which was returning after unloading iron ore at the Paradip Port, hit the van.
The deceased persons were identified as Ramachandra Swain of Betamalisasana, Gangadhar Pradhan of Antri village, Basant Kumar Sahoo of Harisdaspur and Prafulla Kumar Behera of Antri, said Jenapur police station IIC Susant Kumar Das.
The injured were admitted to a nearby hospital before being shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack.
The driver of the truck went absconding after the accident. Tension erupted in the area as locals blocked the road. Police reached the spot, seized the bodies for postmortem and started investigation.
