Gangtok, July 1: Four persons from North Sikkim were killed and five injured when a jeep carrying them to a wedding met with an accident on a highway in Nepal last night.

The jeep (registration number SK 04-8462) crashed into the back of a truck carrying bamboo. The occupants were slammed against the pointed ends of the bamboo stems, which pierced their bodies.

There were nine persons, including two drivers, in the vehicle.

The accident took place on the Belbari-Dangighat section of Mahendra Highway in Nepal’s Biratnagar around 11pm.

The groom, Md Sahid, a resident of Mangan in North Sikkim, has hired the vehicle from Lingza in Dzongu for his marriage to a girl in Dharan.

The jeep was the last in a five-vehicle convoy taking the groom and his relatives to the wedding. The other vehicles had already reached the venue at Dharan, around 40km from the accident spot, and the marriage was reportedly over.

Family-members identified the dead as Ashoke Prasad (40), Pramod Saha (40), Islam Master (61) and a 14-year-old boy Mohammad Ismil. All of them were from Mangan.

Among the injured, who have been admitted to a hospital in Dharan, the condition of Md Aluhudin is said to be serious. The other injured persons are Kalu Singh, Umesh Thapa (both drivers), Chittery Darjee and Sandeep Chettri. It is still not known who was behind the wheel when the accident took place.

Efforts are on to bring the bodies back from the Dharan hospital.

Family-members are also trying to contact the others who went to the wedding as well as people in Nepal for updates on those injured. However, only limited information has flowed from Dharan, mainly from an advocate who is handling the legal formalities to get the bodies released.

Mangan Bazaar remained shut today as a mark of respect to the deceased.