The four were returning by two motorcycles from Nabadwip in Nadia district to their respective residences at Samudragarh in East Burdwan district in the early morning.

Eyewitnesses said the two bikes were driving at extremely high speeds when they collided with a four-wheeler coming from the opposite direction in the Gaurangapara area.

The cops of the local Nadanghat police station immediately reached the spot and the injured to the Kalna Specialty Hospital, where the doctors declared them dead.

The four persons killed in the accident have been identified as Arif Sheikh, Abu Mondal, Abu Bakar Siddique Mondal and Abdukl Silim Mollah. All were residents of the Samudragarh area. The police have sent their bodies for post-mortem purposes.

A woman, Padma Das, who was passing by was also hit by one of the two motorcycles which lost balance after the collision. She is under treatment at a local hospital.

The driver of the four-wheeler against which the two motorcycles collided had gone absconding since the time of the accident. The family members of the four deceased persons have already been informed by the cops, said the officials here.

The eyewitnesses, however, complained that despite being informed in time the cops from the local police station arrived at the accident spot late and by the time they reached the local people had almost completed the initial rescue operations.

The local people also alleged that the spot where the mishap took place had been accident-prone for quite some time without any proper traffic management system or speed-breaking road bumps.

They also alleged that despite being vocal on these issues for quite some time there had been no initiative from the local administration on this count.