At least five persons were killed and seven injured, some of them critically, as a truck ploughed into bystanders on Basanti Highway in South 24 Parganas district late tonight.
Superintendent of Police Sunil Chowdhury said five persons died on the spot as the truck swerved to a side while driving at a high speed on the highway and mowed down those standing before the roadside stalls at around 9:15 pm.
Initial reports had put the death toll at six which the senior police officer attributed to confusion during body count at site in the dark immediately after the accident.
The five killed were identified as Dulal Mondal (40), Niranjan Ghosh (45), Sadik Ali Mollah (51), Wahed Ali Mollah and Sadek Molla (47), the SP said.
The seven injured were taken by locals to Chittaranjan National Medical College Hospital in Park Circus and the condition of some of them was stated to be critical.
West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim Hakim, Arup Biswas and Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were camping at the hospital to oversee treatment of the injured.
They announced that the state would bear the treatment cost of the injured and cremation charge of the deceased.
The driver of the truck is absconding, the officer said.
