Returning home by an auto-rickshaw after attending a cremation ritual turned fatal for two women as they were killed and four other persons, including three women, sustained critical injuries when the three-wheeler and a speeding car collided on NH-57 near Bhogada under the Daspalla police limits in Nayagarh district late on Thursday night.
The deceased were identified as Tuni Behera and Bisika Behera, both hailing from Tendabadi village in the Daspalla area.
The injured ones Rashmita Behera, Urmila Behera, Paluni Nayak and auto-rickshaw driver Sabar Pradhan were initially admitted to the Nayagarh District Headquarters Hospital and later shifted to a hospital in Bhubaneswar as their conditions deteriorated.
Though the car was seized by police, the driver of the vehicle went absconding after the accident.