Bhadrak, May 2: Five tourists from Bengal died and four others were injured after the Bolero they were travelling in rammed into a culvert on the national highway near Chingudiapur in Bhadrak district early this morning.

The tourists were returning to home from Puri when the mishap took place.

The deceased have been identified as Supriya Daripa, 48, her husband Gautam Daripa, 60, driver Ashok Kumar Karmakar, 42, Niranjan Das, 62, and Mantu Chaudhury, 25. Police said while two people died on the spot, two others succumbed to their injuries at Bhadrak district headquarters hospital. Another person died at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

The police said all victims belonged to Poddarpada village in Bankura district of Bengal. The four persons injured in the mishap are being treated at SCB. A hospital doctor said all of them had suffered multiple injuries and their health condition remained critical.

Inspector in charge of Dhamnagar police station Bulu Munda said the driver appeared to have dozed off while driving. "As soon as we got the information, we rushed to the place and rescued the victims from the mangled vehicle. Later, we rushed them to district headquarters hospital," said Munda.

An eyewitness said the mishap took place around 4am. The car got completely damaged in the accident. "I was returning home at that time. I saw the vehicle ramming into the culvert. The injured were crying for help and the car got mangled. I thought no one survived. But fortunately, some of them are still alive," he said.

The police have informed the victims' family members in Bengal. "After admitting the injured in the hospital, we also lifted the vehicle off the road to ease traffic on the national highway," said Munda.

The tourists had reached Puri two days ago and were returning to Bengal after having a darshan at the 12th century Jagannath temple, which is presently a scene of great hustle and bustle because of the rituals connected with the first phase of Nabakalebar (change of idols).

While the neem logs for making the new idols of Lord Sudarshan, the associate of Lord Jagannath have already reached the temple, the logs for the three other deities would be reaching there in phases.

This, incidentally, is not the first road mishap involving tourists and pilgrims from Bengal. In October last year, an engineer from Bengal was killed in a road accident on the Dhauli hills.