Sambalpur: One person died while two others were critically injured after the car in which they were travelling crashed into a roadside tree at Laidaguna Nilapada Square under Mahulpali police limits in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Friday morning.
The deceased has been identified as Rajat Patel, a resident of Kusumi in Kuchinda tehsil.
According to sources, the accident occurred when Rajat along with two of his friends was returning home after a three-day visit to Puri. Locals rushed to their aid and admitted them to sub-divisional hospital at Kuchinda, where doctors declared Rajat brought dead. One among the injured has been shifted to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla.
“They were a few minutes away from home when the accident occurred. The person on the wheels might have dozed off, leading to the crash. They had travelled to Puri on April 7 evening,” friend Lipan Patel told a local news channel.
The tragedy was compounded by the fact that Rajat was due to be married in just a few days.
Mahulpali police have seized the car, whose front end was severely mangled, and sent the body for postmortem. An investigation is underway into the circumstances leading to the fatal crash.
