The mangled remains of the car that was hit by a truck at Khandagiri Square on Sunday night. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, March 31: Three youths, including two engineering students, died in a road mishap at Khandagiri Square. This is the second major accident at the same spot.

In December last, three people were killed and a dozen others were injured after a sand-laden tipper coming down from the Khandagiri Hills ploughed through a crowd of vehicles.

The latest incident took place last late night when a car was coming from Kolathia and was going towards Jagamara. A truck, coming from Baramunda side, hit the vehicle. The impact of the collision was so powerful that the car was again smacked to the traffic post. However, the truck managed to flee the spot.

“The car was taking a turn from the traffic square towards Jagamara and a speeding truck hit it. The truck sped away towards Khurda after the accident. We rushed to the spot and informed the police control room,” said an eyewitness.

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. The car driver was lucky enough not to sustain any injury.

The deceased were identified as Subham Khamari, 21, a native of Balangir, Prabin Sarangi, 22, and Sourav Ranjan Patnaik, 20, both natives of Nuapada district. While Subham and Sourav were B.Tech. students, Prabin was studying management. The injured was identified as Abhash Padhi. The car was being driven by Sanjeev Choudhary, who had a miraculous escape. Both Abhash and Sanjeev were law students of a city institute. Later Abhash was shifted to a private hospital.

The police said that the car driver might not have noticed the speeding truck while taking the turn. “We are looking for the truck and its driver,” said inspector in charge of Khandagiri police station Sanjib Satpathy.

Local residents demanded a flyover at the busy junction. “This place has become a death zone. A number of accidents have taken place on this square, including a few fatal mishaps. The traffic square is a major junction in our area and presence of educational institutes around the area have further raised the necessity of a flyover,” said Bimal Mohapatra, a local trader.

Earlier, the police had proposed the National Highways Authority of India to construct a flyover between Kolathia Square and Khandagiri Square in the wake of December accident. The police had also decided that tourist buses would not use the slopes of Khandagiri hills.