Bhadrak: Pall of glooms descended at Asura village after five students, including three girls, died in road accident on Thursday.

On Friday, four bodies were cremated at the village, and that of a student was cremated in Swargadawar crematorium in Puri.

"We had never thought that our children would never return from school," said an aggrieved parent.

Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Sandhyabati Pradhan on Friday interacted with the district officials regarding the safety of school students.

"I have met the accident victims. I enquired about their health conditions. I interacted with the students as well as doctors. I am holding discussions with the district collector, officials of the education department and the National Highways Authority of India to prevent reoccurrence of such accident," said Pradhan.

Bhadrak district collector Gyana Das said: "A discussion will be made with the highway authorities on July 31."

Adequate police force was deployed in and around the school to prevent any law and order situation. "Two platoon of police have been deployed at the village," said sub-divisional police officer Jalandhar Jali.

"Today, a decision was taken that all teachers of highway-side schools would be careful during the beginning and closing time. The physical education teacher and police personnel would guide the students to safety during school opening and closing hours," said Jali.

The police identified the lorry driver, who had absconded from the site after the mishap, as Devlam Venkatadri, a resident of Andhra Pradesh.