A car accident claimed three lives and left two critically injured in the wee hours of Tuesday at New Town in the city’s north eastern fringes. The incident occurred at around 5 this morning when a speeding Honda City keeled over after crashing into a Metro Ra

ilway pillar near Eco Park. The impact of the accident was such that the car was reduced to a mangled piece of wreckage and broken glass lay scattered on the road.

Police rushed to the spot immediately after and rescued the five passengers by using a gas-cutter.

While one of the injured died on the spot, two others succumbed to their injuries after being taken to a hospital. The victims have been identified as Nitish Jhawar, Kaushal Jhawar and Mayank Jhawar.

The remaining two injured persons ~ Mohit Jain and Sarabjit Singh ~ are battling for their lives at a private nursing home. Mohit was driving the car while Sarabjit was sitting beside him.

Sources said while four of them are residents of Manicktala, one is from Salt Lake.

Police sources said that the accident took place while the car was speeding towards Kolkata Airport from Narkelbagan More.

The driver of the car lost control after swerving it to take a U-turn and the vehicle rammed into a pillar of the under-construction Metro railway line before overturning. Police suspect that the person behind the wheels was in a drunken state. Officers from New Town police station along with forensic experts rushed to the spot.

A forensic official said, “It seems that the car was being driven at a very high speed and this is why the car did not stop despite applying the brakes and deployment of the airbags. We will be examining whether there was any technical glitch in the car.”

Police said that a probe is on.

In another road accident in the area, an ice-cream vendor sustained critical injuries when his van was hit by a speeding private car at around 3 p.m. in front of New Town Ram Mandir. Eyewitnesses said that the man was standing on the road when the car hit him. Police have seized the car and the driver has been taken into custody for interrogation.

Just a week ago, a plywood-laden goods vehicle overturned, leaving four persons injured while it was going from Chinar Park to Narkelbagan.

One motorcyclist and two pillion riders sustained minor injuries today when a heavy goods vehicle hit the bike from behind near J. L. Nehru Road and Shakespeare Sarani crossing. All were discharged from the hospital after primary treatment.