An ambulance was seized and its driver arrested on Tuesday morning after it had crushed three women to death.

The deceased — Kala Devi (40), Aarti Devi (42) and Gudari Devi (45) — were hit by the ambulance on National Highway-57 in the Maulaganj area under the jurisdiction of Mabbi police outpost, around 165km northeast of Patna.

The driver identified as Hareram Rai, a resident of Chautham village of Khagaria district, was on his way to Purnea after dropping off a patient at Patna Medical College and Hospital.

He lost control of the ambulance and ran over the women.

While two of them died on the spot, one succumbed to her injuries on her way to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital. “We have registered a case at Mabbi police outpost. After the post-mortem, the bodies were handed over to the relatives,” sadar sub-divisional police officer Niraj Kumar Singh said.

Maulaganj residents blocked the national highway for more than four hours and demanded compensation for the families of the deceased. Town MLA Sanjay Sarawagi and Singh reached the spot to pacify the protesters.