Rourkela, July 31: Seven persons died today after an SUV, in which they were travelling, fell into a river near Khunti in Jharkhand.
Eight persons were travelling in the vehicle heading for Lucknow.
The deceased have been identified as Anand Kaushik alias Pintu Sharma, 32, Sunny Sahu, 28, Amit Pandey, 30, Sushil Pandey, 38, Ranjit Jha, 36 and Santosh Ray alias Jibas Yadav, 28 - all from Biramitrapur, 26km from here - and one Vicky Singh, 23, from Vedvyas on the city outskirts.
The vehicle owner, Kedar Barik, 30, who was driving the car, suffered injuries in the accident. He has been admitted to Ranchi Institute of Medical Science.
The police said the accident took place around 3.30am when the vehicle was crossing the Tarjana river. From over the bridge, it fell into the riverbed near Khunti, situated between Jamshedpur and Ranchi. As there was less water in the river, the Scorpio hit the stony riverbed, killing almost all the passengers on the spot.
The police said the driver told the passengers that he lost the control of the vehicle as a truck came from the opposite direction.
Barik was the co-ordinator of the town unit of a political party and others were members of the organisation. Yesterday, Vicky had lodged an FIR at Brahmanitarang police station mentioning that his sister was missing. Sources said the group was going to Lucknow to trace the girl.
Inspector in charge of Brahmanitarang police station Upendra Pradhan said: "Yesterday, Vicky filed an FIR saying that his minor sister had been missing since Wednesday."
Vicky's neighbour Prakash Pradhan said: "Vicky, who used to work with Eastern Alloys at Kalunga, was the sole earning member in his family. His father was a driver by profession but left his job some time ago. Vicky's grandfather, Surendra Prasad Singh, earns a little by selling vegetables at Vedvyas Chhak. His missing sister used to work at a beauty parlour in Civil Township here."
Surendra said: "He left Rourkela yesterday without informing anyone. When he did not return, we became worried. Finally, when managed to contact him, he was on his way to Lucknow, along with his friends."
