Jharsuguda/Bhadrak: At least five people were killed and 15 others injured in two separate road accidents in Odisha Sunday.
In the first incident, four people were killed and nine injured when a pick-up van carrying them collided head-on with a truck on NH-49 near Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district around 10.30 am, a police officer said.
The coal-laden truck overturned after hitting the pick-up van.
The injured passengers were taken to Lakhanpur Community Health Centre. Later, the seriously injured were shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Jharsuguda, the officer said.
Police sent the bodies for autopsy and initiated an investigation.
The second accident took place near Aradi Chhak in Bhadrak district in the early hours of Sunday, another police officer said.
One person died while six others were critically injured, he said.
The accident happened when a vehicle carrying passengers from Puri to Balasore collided head-on with a truck.
One person died on the spot, while six other passengers, including two children, were admitted to Bhadrak District Hospital.
Later four of them were shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack as their condition turned critical, he said.
The passengers hail from Gopalpur in Bhadrak district and they were returning to their village after visiting Jagannath Temple in Puri.
The Inspector-in-Charge of Bhadrak rural police station, Amitav Das, said a search was on for the driver who fled with the truck from the spot.
PTI