Two persons were killed late on Saturday night when a van rammed into the rear of a stationary truck in the Nandanpur area near Karimpur, Nadia district, along the Krishnanagar-Karimpur state highway.

According to the police, preliminary investigations suggest that the driver of the Karimpur-bound van lost control after he apparently dozed off at the wheel.

The vehicle first struck a labourer who was loading pointed gourd into the stationary truck before crashing into its rear.

One of the deceased was a passenger in the van, Hakim Sheikh, 38, a resident of Mominpur under Domkal police station in Murshidabad district.

The deceased was a construction worker and returning home from Nadia district’s Hanshkhali .

The other victim, Shafiqul Sheikh, 37, was a labourer from Gamakhali village in Thanarpara of Tehatta, Nadia district.

Shafiqul was working near the truck when the accident occurred.

Astakin Mondal, one of the surviving passengers of the ill-fated van, said they had hired the vehicle from Krishnanagar after missing their bus home.

“The driver was feeling drowsy since the beginning of the journey and we alerted him repeatedly. But eventually the driver dozed off and before we could realise what was happening, our van crashed into the stationary truck. One of our colleagues died under the impact. So did a man on the road who ws working near the truck,” he said.

Local residents and police rushed to the spot and took the accident victims to the Karimpur hospital, where doctors declared two persons dead.