Oct 9: Eight persons travelling in an SUV were killed this morning when the car collided against a stationary truck between Jamjhadi and Simulia near Kupura, about 45km from Balasore on NH-5. The victims, who were all from Bengal, included two women.

Of the dead, seven were officials of a private medical college in Bengal’s Haldia.

The seven persons killed on their way to Puri were all staff members of ICARE Medical Science and Research Centre and Dr BC Roy Medical College, which has been set up by former Haldia strongman Lakshman Seth.

They were identified as Rupa Ghosh, 45, chief executive officer of the medical college, Mira Dutta Roy, 55, deputy nursing superintendent, Subhomoy Karan, 26, administrative officer, Subhro Sil, 26, management trainee, Rahul Chatterjee, 26, public relations officer, Abhishek Mishra, 25, office assistant, and Saptarshi Mondal, 23, management trainee. Among the dead was driver of the car, Sheikh Murshali, 25.

Seven of the victims died on the spot while one died on the way to hospital.

Secretary of ICARE, an NGO, Ashis Lahiri, said that the staff members were busy during Durga Puja because of an inspection by joint team from Medical Council of India and Dental Council of India on Friday and Saturday.

“The officials of the medical college were very busy during the Puja because of the joint inspection. The team left yesterday evening. As the medical college is reopening after the Puja vacation on October 12, seven of them decided to visit Puri and the arrangement was made hurriedly. They hired the car and left at about 2.40am today,” said Lahiri.

The news reached the ICARE officials in Haldia at about 9am today. Lahiri as well as ICARE chairman, Seth left separately for the spot.

The sub-divisional police officer of Balasore, Kailash Chandra Parida, said that they learnt from the cell phone of one of the victims that they were staff members of the hospital.

“From the cell phone of one of the victims, we learnt that they were staff of BC Roy Hospital. We then informed the hospital about the incident. On reaching the spot, the hospital staff identified the victims,” said Parida.

The SUV was moving at a high speed and rammed into an empty truck from the rear. “The SUV was driving at a very high speed and we are probing whether the driver had dozed off,” a police official said.

The police and residents extricated the bodies from the mangled vehicle. “We have removed the bodies as well as the mangled vehicle from the accident site. We have contacted the relatives of the victims and staff of BC Roy Hospital. Some of them have arrived at the Soro Community Health Centre,” said Balasore SP, Rajesh Kumar.

“I have asked the hospital authorities to expedite the post-mortem,” said Balasore district collector, Akhil Bihari Ota.

Rupa Ghosh, the CEO, hailed from Nabalia Para Road in Behala, on the southern parts of Calcutta.

Family members said that she had left for her workplace in Haldia on Dashami, after spending Durga Puja with her parents, husband and her brother’s family.

Mira Dutta Roy originally hailed from Gopal Banerjee Road in Bhowanipore in Calcutta and had shifted base to Haldia after her husband’s death six years ago.

She would occasionally visit her nephew Birendra Kishore Dutta Roy at her Dhirendra Nath Ghosh Road, also in Bhowanipore.