The mangled remains of the truck that was hit by two trains at an unmanned railway crossing in Khurda district on Tuesday. (PTI)

Bhubaneswar, April 2: Three persons were killed at an unmanned railway crossing near Kaipadar Road in Khurda district this morning when a mini truck in which they were travelling was hit by two trains.

Local people said the truck was coming from the Delang side and its driver probably could only see a goods train coming from the Khurda side. He could not make out that the passenger train, Gurudev Express from Nagercoil to Shalimar, too, was arriving from the opposite direction.

The passenger train hit the truck when it had barely crossed the tracks. The truck then collided with the goods train. An eyewitness said the truck was smashed and all the three occupants, including the driver, died on the spot.

The victims were identified as Manas Balabantray, the driver, Sukanta Behera and Biranchi Barik, two daily wage earners. All were from Delang in Puri district.

Following the incident, an irate mob blocked the rail tracks, demanding compensation of Rs 50 lakh for each of the deceased, jobs for their family members and deployment of security guards at the crossing. Movement of trains between Chennai and Howrah was disrupted for a couple of hours.

Railway officials, including the divisional railway manager of Khurda Road division, went to the spot and convinced the local people to lift the blockade.

On March 26, a tractor driver was killed by Puri-Durg Express when the tractor was crossing an unmanned railway crossing near Jenapur Passenger halt off Delang.

According to the East Coast Railway sources, there are 633 unmanned level crossings in their jurisdiction in three states — Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Odisha, Khurda Road division has 168 unmanned crossings.

A total of 239 unmanned level crossings fall in the Sambalpur division.