Jaipur, Dec 4 : A major road accident claimed five lives early Wednesday morning when a canter and an SUV collided head-on on the Churu-Hanumangarh highway in Rajasthan's Churu district.

Two others were seriously injured in the collision, officials reported.

According to SHO Arvind Kumar, the accident occurred when a Tata Safari travelling from Sardarshahar to Hanumangarh collided with a canter coming from the opposite direction. The impact severely damaged the Safari, trapping its occupants.

Upon receiving the information, Sardarshahar police, along with local residents worked to rescue the victims. A crane was also used to entangle the vehicles. The injured were rushed to the hospital in a police vehicle, while a two-hour effort was required to extricate two individuals trapped in the wreckage.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rameshwar Lal also arrived at the scene to oversee rescue operations.

All victims were taken to Sardarshahar Hospital, where doctors pronounced five occupants of the car dead. The deceased were identified as Kamlesh (26), Rakesh (25), Pawan (33), all residents of Bikaner, and Dhanraj, a resident of Sikar.

Three others, including the canter driver Kishore Singh Rajput of Ratangarh, and Nandlal (23) and Ramlal from Bikaner, were referred to a higher centre in Bikaner due to their critical condition. Tragically, Nandlal succumbed to his injuries en route, and his body was taken to the PBM Hospital mortuary in Bikaner.

The bodies of the other victims have been kept at the mortuary in Sardarshahar Government Hospital. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.

The accident was extremely severe, leaving the front sections of both vehicles completely wrecked. The police promptly transported the injured to the hospital. Using a crane, they moved both vehicles to the roadside. The incident caused a traffic jam on the Mewa Highway that lasted for about an hour. The police eventually cleared the jam and restored the flow of traffic.

/IANS