The incident took place when an ambassador, carrying the victims, lost control and collided with a truck which was coming from the opposite direction. According to the police, the driver of the ambassador, Lalu Nunia, was inebriated.

“It seems that the driver was in an inebriated condition and drove recklessly. The driver of the truck is also absconding,” said Piyush Pandey, District Police Superintendent of Burdwan.

All the victims are the residents of Ranigunge. They were returning home after dropping one of their relatives to the bus stop.

The deceased have been identified as Lalu Nunia (30), Pratap Nunia (19), Anjali Kumar (18), Gurcharan Chouhan (six months) and Neeraaj Nunia (6). Injured include Promila Nunia (12) and Anu Nunia (2). Their condition is said to be critical. The ambassador was badly damaged and the bodies were taken out with great difficulty.