At least two persons were killed and 10 others were injured, including four critically, as a SUV returning to Cuttack from Digha rammed into a stationary truck on NH-5 near Panapana under the Khantapara police station in Baleswar district in the wee hours on Monday.
The police informed that the vehicle was at a high speed and the driver might have dozed off leading to the mishap.
All the 12 persons from the Mangalabag area of Cuttack had gone to Digha in West Bengal for arranging a picnic and were in inebriated state during their return journey.
The injured were rescued from the vehicle by nearby dhaba workers and the locals, besides the police and sent to the District Headquarters Hospital at Baleswar soon.
The deceased were identified as Pramod Sahu (27) and Niranjan Rout (23), while the injured were Ghana Chand (driver), Rajkishor Singh, Purnachandra Sahu, Prakash Behera, Daru Rima, Rashmi Mohapatra, Raju Behera, Bikash Sahu, Satyaban Jena and Kamlakanta Das.
“The road has been cleared and a case has been registered,” said Khantapara police station IIC Nirmal Mohanty.