A crowd gathers near the mangled Ambassador at the crash site. Picture by Gour Sharma

Durgapur, April 21: An allegedly drunk man driving his nieces and nephews home from a wedding rammed his Ambassador into a coal-laden truck, killing himself and four of the children.

Lalu Nunia, 30, and his nephew Pratap Nunia, 19, who was sitting next to him, were killed on the spot. Gurucharan Chauhan, 1, Anjali Kumari, 8, and Niraj Nunia, 8, died on way to hospital.

Pramila Nunia, 12, Anu Kumari, 2, Ankit Nunia, 4, Soni Nunia, 7, and Tanu Nunia, 5, have been admitted to the Asansol sub-divisional hospital. The condition of two of them is critical, doctors said.

The accident took place near the Topshi rail gate at Jamuria, 240km from Calcutta, around 8 this morning.

Police said the children of Mahendra Nunia and his brother had gone to Topshi, 10km from their home in Chapui in Ranigunj, to attend the wedding of a relative.

Mahendra, an Eastern Coalfields Limited worker, returned last night on a motorcycle to report for work at a colliery in nearby Sreepur. He asked his brother-in-law Lalu to bring the children home. His brother had not gone to the wedding.

Other members of the family left Topshi by 1am but Lalu sat with his friends for a drinking session, the police said.

This morning, Lalu, still drunk, set off for Chapui. Pratap sat in the front seat with Gurucharan on his lap.

Villagers heard a bang and rushed to the spot. The mangled Ambassador was lying on the Ranigunj-Suri Road near the Topshi rail gate.

“I saw the Ambassador zig-zagging its way and then ramming into the truck while approaching a narrow bridge. Most of the victims were children. We tried to pull them out but could not,” said Joydeb Mondal, who was passing by.

When Mahendra returned from night duty this morning, some relatives told him about the accident and he rushed to the hospital. The police said it was not known if his brother knew about the tragedy.

“I just can’t imagine how all this happened,” said a sobbing Mahendra.