Bhubaneswar, July 17: Twenty persons were injured when a speeding pick-up truck carrying 25 people turned turtle near Bharatpur Mangala temple along the Khandagiri-Chandaka Road this morning.

While six critically injured persons were admitted to Capital Hospital, others were released after being administered first aid at the same hospital.

Khandagiri police have seized the pick-up van but the driver managed to flee. Eyewitnesses said the van that was normally used as a goods carrier, was carrying 25 labourers from Nayapalli to Chandaka on the city outskirts.

One of the injured, Rajendra Mohanty, a resident of Nilachakra Sahi in Nayapalli, said the driver had pressed the brakes near a rough patch on the under-construction road and the vehicle turned upside down. “We were standing on the open van and fell down when it overturned,” he said.

Hearing the screams of the injured, local residents rushed to the spot and helped them. Later Khandagiri police took the injured passengers to Capital Hospital. “Most of them had minor injuries. Our control room vans rushed them to the hospital. We seized the vehicle from the spot and are looking for the driver,” said a senior police officer, adding that the driver was at fault.

Local residents said since construction is on in Chandaka, mini-trucks and pick-up vans are used to ferry labourers to their work places. They said frequent accidents occurred because many drivers tried to drive fast on the under-construction stretch.

Two similar accidents involving pick-up vans ferrying labourers took place earlier this year. While one happened near Chandaka in April, the other occurred near Balakati in January.