Crash kills 3

Rajeev Ravidas, TT, Kalimpong, June 27: Three persons, including a boy, died and one person was injured when the vehicle they were travelling in fell about 800ft down a hill on Relli-Pala Road last night.

Police sources said the accident occurred when a Maruti Omni, with four occupants, including the driver, was returning to Sindebung village from Kafer. The car skidded off the road and fell down a hill at Katusay Dara, about 25km from here, around 9pm.

"It was apparently very foggy and visibility was poor. As soon as we heard about the incident, our team went to the spot and recovered three bodies and rescued the injured person with the help of local people," said a police source.

The dead are John Tshering Lepcha, 56, the postmaster of Sindebung post office, his nephew Chiten Tamang, 12, a Class VI student of Chandramaya School in Pudung and Sanjay Mukhia, 46, of Upper Khadalay village. The injured driver, Sanjay Tamang, also of Sindebung, was initially brought to Kalimpong subdivisional hospital and later referred to a hospital in Siliguri.

The bodies were brought to the subdivisional hospital last night and handed over to the relatives of the deceased after post-mortem today.

Kumar Mangrati, a Sindebung resident, said the four had gone to Kafer for a Sunday outing and were returning to Sindebung when the accident cut short their journey.