Four persons were killed and eight others seriously injured when the Bolero jeep they were travelling in hit a stationary truck near Bhandaripokhari on National Highway-5 in Bhadrak district late on Tuesday night.
According to reports, 13 persons from Rajagharapokhari village under Basudevpur block had gone to Puri in the morning to have a darshan of the deities.
On their return from Puri, the driver lost control of the vehicle, which hit the stationary truck from behind killing three passengers on the spot. The three deceased were identified as a couple and their eight-year-old daughter.
The Bhandaripokhari police rushed to the spot and admitted the nine seriously injured passengers, including two children, to a nearby hospital, from where they were shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack. Their conditions were stated to be critical and one of them succumbed to his injuries at the Cuttack hospital.