Ranchi, Sep 22 : At least five people lost their lives and more than 40 were injured in two separate road accidents that occurred on Monday in Jharkhand's Godda and Ramgarh districts, officials said.

In the first incident, a car veered off the Mahagama-Ekchari main road in Godda district around 10 a.m. on Monday and plunged into a deep ravine. Three people died on the spot.

The victims were identified as Jogendra Kumar Yadav, a resident of Mahagama Urja Nagar; his wife Bindeshwari Devi (53); and their neighbour Kaushalya Devi (48).

All of them were returning from the Ganga Ghat in Kahalgaon with water for the Kalash Sthapana ritual marking the beginning of Durga Puja and Navratri.

Local villagers helped retrieve the bodies from the ravine. Police sent the bodies to Godda hospital for postmortem examination.

Mahagama SDPO Chandrashekhar Azad said that police and administrative teams promptly reached the site after getting the information and initiated relief operations.

In the second accident, a bus and a truck collided head-on near Chhattar Mandu on the Ramgarh-Bokaro road on Monday afternoon.

The bus driver and a female passenger died in the crash, while over 40 bus passengers sustained injuries, police said.

The truck driver was trapped inside the cabin and was rescued after nearly two hours of effort by local police and rescue teams.

He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but succumbed to his injuries during treatment.

Another seriously injured female passenger also died while undergoing treatment, police informed.

The collision caused extensive damage to both vehicles and led to a traffic jam that lasted nearly three hours.

Police worked for hours to clear the wreckage and restore traffic flow.

/IANS