Bhubaneswar, Sept. 11: Two engineering students today died in a road mishap when a car hit the motorcycle the victims were riding from behind near Janla on the city outskirts.

The deceased were identified as Nitish Kumar, 22, and Manish Kumar Singh, 22, both were from Dhanbad in Jharkhand.

Police said both the victims were fourth-year mechanical students of a private engineering college in Bhubaneswar.

Sources said the mishap took place while both the students were travelling back to their college on a motorcycle after attending a job interview at Jatani. The car hit the motorcycle around 1.45pm when the students were coming from the Khurda side, said an eyewitness.

“An Indigo car hit the motorcycle from behind, and as a result of which, both the bike-riders were thrown off the motorcycle. We immediately informed the police,” said Binay Behera, another eyewitness.

Later, the police reached the spot rushed the victims to a nearby hospital, but the students succumbed to their injuries on their way to the medical facility.

Though local people caught two persons, including the driver of the car, one person managed to flee from spot. Later, they hand them over to the police.

The police said that during the time of the accident, the driver of the car had been under the influence of alcohol. “We have seized the car and detained two persons, including the driver of the car,” said a police official.

Following the incident, tension prevailed in the area as the local residents staged a demonstration demanding deployment of traffic personnel at Janla Square.

“The square has turned into a death trap due to absence of traffic personnel. Everyday, we are facing some or other traffic problems as the authorities remain apathetic towards our pleas. Though we have been demanding deployment of traffic personnel at the spot, no step has yet been taken,” alleged local resident Krupasindhu Das.

The agitation, however, came to an end after senior police officials reached the spot and assured the agitators of addressing their long-demanding issue.

In a similar incident of road mishap, three youths, including two engineering students, had died at Khandagiri Square in March. The incident took place when a truck had hit the car in which the victims were travelling.

The March 31 incident took place at night when a car was coming from Kolathia and going towards Jagamara. A truck, coming from the Baramunda side, hit the vehicle. The impact of the collision was so powerful that the car was smacked to the traffic post.

However, the truck managed to flee the spot.

While two youths died on the spot, another two were rushed to the Capital Hospital. One among the injured later succumbed to his injuries at the Capital Hospital.

At that time, people residing at Khandagiri Square had staged a demonstration against the mishap and demanded a flyover at the busy junction to avert recurrence of such accidents.