Dhenkanal: Three members of a family were killed after a heavy vehicle hit the car in which they were travelling at Nimabahali on the NH-55 on Monday night.

The deceased are Gobinda Tripathy, 55, his wife Sagaraika, 49, and their only son Sourav Sagar, 24. The family hailed from Sadasaibpur village in the district. They all died on spot.

Police are yet to trace the vehicle that hit the car.

The trio was on their way to Talcher from Bhubaneswar after vacationing in the Andaman and Nicober Islands.

A heavy vehicle coming from the opposite direction hit their car, witnesses said.

Their bodies were taken to Puri for cremation after the post-mortem in Dhenkanal. Tripathy worked with Mahanadi Coalfields Limited at Talcher as captain at the rescue station.

He was also a sportsman who represented the company. A trade union activist, he belonged to the Indian national Trade Union Congress.

The police said there was a head-on collision and suspected that a truck was involved in the incident.

"We reached the spot after learning of the accident. We found all three dead and the vehicle badly damaged. We sent the bodies for post-mortem to Dhenkanal hospital. We can not say who was at fault as the other vehicle is still at large. An investigation is on to trace the vehicle," said Motanga police station inspector-in-charge Prabhat Tripathy.