The smashed Bolero (top) and the Maruti van whose passengers had a miraculous escape. Pictures by Prabin Khaling

Gangtok, June 8: A jeep carrying youngsters home from a nightclub here fell 300ft into a gorge past midnight on Saturday, two hours after a van skidded off the same bend.

Three women and a man have died and three are in hospital. They were all in the jeep.

The two occupants of the Maruti van escaped almost unscathed as it landed on trees only 100ft below and stayed cushioned on the foliage.

Police said the Mahindra Bolero hit the van on the hillside before tumbling down.

The accident occurred at Tadong, 4km from Gangtok and on the way to Ranipul, where the three women stayed.

The dead have been identified as Passang Tshering Bhutia, 21, Anu Pradhan, 22, Rajni Tamang, 23, and her sister Raveena, 20.

Police said the men, who met the trio at the pub, had offered to drop them home.

The vehicle belongs to a relative of Passang.

The police are trying to find out if drunken driving and over-speeding had caused the accident. A case has been registered against Sameer Chettri for alleged rash driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Chettri, Khagendra Khulal and Manju Pradhan have been hospitalised. Their condition was said to be serious.

Local residents said it had been drizzling around midnight. By the time the rescue began, it was raining heavily.

People came out to help, braving the darkness and the rain. Police joined them later.

“The bodies were strewn all over. The rescue team worked till early this morning to get the bodies up and take the injured to hospital,” said K.B. Karki, a local resident.

The Maruti, the police said, was returning to Gangtok after having dropped a patient at a hospital 25km away.