Berhampur: Two more deaths on Thursday took the count of fatalities in the series of accidents at Chamakhandi Square on National Highway-16 in Ganjam district on Wednesday evening to three.“Binod Kumar (40) of Uttar Pradesh and Laxmidhar Gouda (45) of Nauli village succumbed to their injuries while undergoing treatment at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here in the morning,” said Shradhanjali Subudhi, inspector-in-charge, Chamakhandi police station. Binod Kumar was working in a kewada processing unit near Chamakhandi.Rojalini Mishra (42) of Berhampur, an employee of the district treasury office, Chhatrapur, died on the spot in the accident on Wednesday evening. She was returning from her office, police said.Eight more people, two of them critically injured with multiple injuries, were undergoing treatment in the medical college. “The critical persons are in ICU,” said Sudeepa Dash, the hospital superintendent.The accident involved a collision between a truck, a car and several vehicles.The driver of a truck, coming from the Chhatrapur side, lost control and rammed into vehicles parked on the side of NH-16 when a car allegedly changed lanes suddenly. Both the truck and car veered off the road and rammed into multiple two-wheelers on the roadside, said police.Angry over the incident, local people blocked the National Highway for several hours. The agitators demanded the construction of an overbridge in the area as a permanent solution to frequent accidents. The NH blockade was lifted after the SP (Ganjam) Harish BC and MLA (Chhatrapur) Krushna Chandra Nayak, who rushed to the spot, intervened.Police said they seized the truck, car and five two-wheelers which were damaged in the accident. The driver of the truck was absconding.MP (Berhampur) Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy expressed grief at the death of three persons and the injuries to eight others in the accident. He prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured persons and urged the medical authorities to ensure the best possible care and support to the victims. (EON)