Three tea workers — Manisha Xalxo, 26, Manisha Nagasia, 18, and Sundar Majhi, 27, died in a road accident on Monday as the pick-up van in which they were going to a tea estate went off the road and fell into a ditch in Nagrakata block of Jalpaiguri.

At least 30 others were injured. Seventeen are under treatment at the super-specialty hospital in Malbazar.

Senior police officers visited the spot. Police seized the vehicle. A probe is on.

Sources said around 35 casual workers, both men and women from the Kherkata and Khairbari areas of Nagrakata, had boarded a van to the Gathia tea estate of the same block to pluck tea leaves. The driver of the overcrowded van lost control.

The incident raised questions as to why the casual workers travel with such risk. “These days, it is a common practice. At least 30 to 35 workers take a pick-up van with their food and other belongings to reach different gardens for tea plucking. These vehicles move at high speed, and if the administration or the police make any move, they resort to protests,” said a Nagrakata resident.

“This practice has to stop. Today’s incident has proved how important it is that the workers travel safely," he said.

SUV crash deaths

Three persons, including a minor, died in a road accident while at least eight others got injured when an SUV in which they were traveling collided head-on with a bus and was rammed in the rear by a pick-up van in South Dinajpur on Sunday evening.

The deceased and the injured are from Madhaipur, a village in the Old Malda area of Malda district. They were on their way to Thengapara in Gangarampur of South Dinajpur to watch a football match.

Sources said a group of football enthusiasts arranged three SUVs to reach the venue.

While they were on the way, the third SUV collided with the bus on NH512 at Jambari.

The bus, on its way to Malda, rammed into the SUV. A pick-up van, which was in the rear of the SUV, also hit it from behind.

Due to the impact, the bus and the pick-up van went off the road. Locals rescued the injured and rushed them to the local hospital in Rashidpur, where three died.

Angry residents blocked the highway for 15-20 minutes, but cops intervened and cleared the road.

The deceased have been identified as Ashik Sheikh, 15, Amir Sohel, 33, and Ajijul Sheikh, 35.