Bhubaneswar, Jan 30: At least three persons, including drivers, were critically injured in a series of collisions involving a bus, a bitumen-laden tanker and a logistics trailer on National Highway-16 at Tamando area in Bhubaneswar late on Thursday night, a source said.

According to the source, the accident took place near the Hyundai showroom, just before Gohiria Chhak, when a trailer rammed into a bitumen tanker from behind. The impact pushed the tanker forward, causing it to crash into a bus ahead. Large quantities of bitumen spilled onto the road following the collision, disrupting traffic movement.

The tanker driver and helper, along with the trailer driver, sustained serious injuries in the mishap. Their identities are yet to be ascertained, the source added.

On receiving information, police rushed to the spot, rescued the injured and shifted them to AIIMS Bhubaneswar for treatment.

The damaged vehicles were later removed from the highway with the help of cranes, after which traffic flow was restored, the source informed.

The crash comes amid alarming road safety statistics in Odisha. Data presented in the Odisha Assembly on November 28 revealed that the state recorded 27,167 road accident deaths over the last five years, averaging 5,433 fatalities annually. During the same period, 50,041 people were injured.

Commerce and Transport Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena had informed the House that Odisha reported 56,830 road accidents between 2020 and 2024. Except for 2020 -- when pandemic restrictions reduced fatalities to 4,738 -- annual deaths have consistently remained above 5,000.

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To address road safety, the state government spent Rs 89.73 crore on various initiatives between 2020–21 and 2024–25, besides disbursing Rs 23.17 crore as financial assistance to accident victims under the Solatium Fund Scheme.