Keonjhar: Four persons, all from a family, were killed when the car, in which they were travelling, rammed into a roadside tree and turned turtle near Anandpur township of the district on Saturday morning.

Two others were critically injured in the accident. The critically injured persons were shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

The deceased, including three women, have been identified as China Panda, Manorama Tripathy, Baikuntha Panda and Laxmipriya Panda. The victims were returning to Anandpur after attending a marriage ceremony at Thakurmunda when the accident occurred on the Anandpur-Karanjia road.

Police said the driver of the vehicle might have possibly dozed off, leading to the mishap. Steady rise in road accident fatalities in Keonjhar district has become a major case of bother for both the police and the civil administration. The state and national highways traversing through Keonjhar district have almost turned into death traps for motorists and pedestrians with the busy stretches accounting for as many as 1,337 human fatalities and 2,740 accidents since the past six years.

The accidents on the highway have almost become a daily ritual. On many occasions, more than one accident was reported on the highway in a single day. The official reports received in this regard sum up the alarming situation. In all, 1,337 people, mostly pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, have lost their lives since the past six years. As many as 2,882 people were injured with majority of them turning physically challenged following the mishaps.

The break-up of casualties in road accidents, according to the Keonjhar road transport department, is 238 in 2013, 246 in 2014, 208 in 2015, 234 in 2016 and 312 in 2017. This year has recorded 123 human toll from January 1 to May 31.

The highway has come under roadside encroachments in strategic traffic junctions. The drivers are parking their vehicles on the roadside instead at the assigned lay-bys. The majority of accidents recorded in the recent past were the result of vehicles hitting the parked ones. Over-speeding and drunken driving are also attributed for spurt in road mishaps, official sources said.