Calcutta, Dec. 21: Ankit Agarwal was to celebrate his birthday with friends today.

But the 19-year-old died along with two of them, Garvit Sharma and Swetank Jain when their Ford Fiesta rammed into an electric pole on the Vidyasagar Setu this morning.

Vineet Saraf, the fourth youth, is in hospital. He does not know that his three friends are no more.

“We haven’t told him about their deaths. He has been told that they are in hospital,” said Shiv Shankar Saraf, his uncle.

“I met Ankit and the three yesterday while returning from work at the gate of the (Ganges Gardens) housing society. We made some plans to celebrate Ankit’s birthday in the evening,” said another friend Abhishek Khaitan, 24. “They told me and other friends the plans about the venue would be made in the afternoon,” he said.

But in the afternoon, Abhishek found out three of his friends had died. “I didn’t know how to react. I feel numb,” he said.

Neighbours at the Ganges Gardens housing society in Shibpur, where the four stayed, said they were “decent boys”. Neighbour N.L. Sharma said: “I saw them last evening chatting near the park.”

“The four were childhood friends and would be together most of the time,” said their friend Ajay Mittal. “They played cricket and badminton and loved driving. Often they would go for long drives,” he said.

The Ford Fiesta they were in belonged to Swetank’s father Subodh Jain.

“Such a tragedy had never happened in our complex,” said neighbour S. Chawla. “We are trying to console the parents but they are shattered. We have no words to express our sorrow.”