Three devotees on their way to attend the Maha Kumbh died after being hit by a vehicle near Nagnathpur National Highway here on Tuesday, police said.

Utraon SHO Pankaj Kumar Tripathi said Jagori Mahato (45), Kunti Mahato (70) and Alpana Mahato (47) among other devotees were travelling in a bus.

The bus stopped at a nearby petrol pump on Nagnathpur National Highway at 5.30 am. While some passengers went to the fields to defecate, the three women went near the road divider and in the meantime a speeding unknown vehicle hit the women, he said.

The women died while being taken to a hospital, the SHO said.

They were travelling from West Bengal's Purulia in to take dip at Sangam in Maha Kumbh, the SHO said, adding that the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.

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