Bhubaneswar, June 23: One person was killed and five others injured in three separate accidents on National Highway 5 in the last 24 hours in the city.

While 28-year-old youth Dipti Ranjan Mishra was killed in an accident at Jayadev Vihar Square this noon, the other two accidents occurred near Patrapada Square last night, resulting in injuries to five persons.

According to eyewitnesses, Dipti, a resident of Kandarpur village in Cuttack, was going towards Acharya Vihar Square on a motorcycle with one of his friends when a cow suddenly came in his way.

“To save the cow, Dipti turned his vehicle towards left and was immediately hit by a speeding bus from behind,” said Raghupati Das, an eyewitness, adding that the bus ran over Dipti, while his friend was thrown to a distance and was luckily saved. Sources said the bus was going from Bhubaneswar to Jajpur town, and it stopped after running over the motorcycle.

Soon, people gathered there and called the police, who rushed the victim to Capital Hospital. As his condition deteriorated, he was later shifted to a private hospital, where he breathed his last.

The Nayapalli police seized the motorcycle and the bus from the spot and have also detained the driver of the bus. “We will forward the bus driver to court tomorrow,” said a police officer.

In another accident at Patrapada Square around 2am, two person sustained injuries as their motorcycle skidded off the highway. Their lives were saved as there was no other speeding vehicle passing through the road at that time.

The injured persons were identified as Sushant Bhanja, 28, and Sagar Mishra, 25, of Rasulgarh. Both of them were traders having establishment at Kuchilakhai haat at Rasulgarh Square.

Sources said the two youths were returning from Khurda on their motorcycle. “They were driving very fast. At Patrapada Square, another motorcyclist was trying to cross the road. Seeing the light of the other vehicle, they applied a sudden brake. Their vehicle skidded off the road and they sustained severe injuries,” said Alok Patra, an eyewitness, who was returning to his home at Nayapalli.

A police team that was patrolling in the area rushed the injured to hospital. The police said Sushant, who was driving the vehicle, was saved with some injuries as he had used a helmet. As the youths were driving very fast, police said they would check whether the motorcycle they were riding was stolen or not.

Around two hours before this accident, two motorcycles had a head-on collision at the same spot, in which three persons sustained injuries. The injured persons were identified as Nitin Mahendra, 15, Subhranshu Mohapatra, 23, and Sumit Pattanaik, 25.

The police said Nitin, a student who passed his matriculation this year, was going towards Khandagiri along with a relative who was driving the vehicle and had a lucky escape. They were coming from the wrong side of the road while another motorcycle, carrying Subhranshu and Sumit, hit them from the front.