Three doctors, one senior resident and two juniors, from India's premium medical institute AIIMS died on 18 March following a road accident while en route to Agra.

The 3 doctors, one of them a woman, died early on 18 March and four others of the same institute were injured in an accident on the Yamuna Expressway near here, police said. The seven doctors including three women, posted as resident doctors in Emergency Medicine department of the AIIMS, were travelling to Agra from Delhi in an SUV to celebrate birthday of Dr Harshad Wankhade, who was among those killed in the accident. The SUV rammed into a Canter truck around 2.30 AM, they said.

While three doctors died on the spot, the other four were rushed to a private hospital here. They were then referred to the AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Aditya Kumar Shukla said. They were admitted to AIIMS Trauma Centre at 9.30 AM. The speeding SUV rammed the truck and got mangled, he said. The deceased have been identified as Dr Yashpreet Kathpal (25), who hailed from Fazilka in Punjab, Dr Himbala (about 25), a resident of Haryana's Yamunanagar, and Dr Wankhade (35), a native of Akola district in Maharashtra.

According to the police officer, Dr Abhinava Singh (Bihar), Dr Cathreen Halam (Tripura), Dr Mahesh Kumar (Bihar) and Dr Jitendra Maurya (Madhya Pradesh) were undergoing treatment. Dr Wankhade was senior resident doctor, while the rest were junior resident doctors (non-academic). According to doctors at the AIIMS, all the four injured are stable.

One of the two injured women suffered a facial bone fracture and hips dislocation and was operated upon. A male doctor suffered a wrist fracture. The other two suffered minor injuries including fractures in the spine, ribs and hips, they said. The SP said immediate help was provided as the information about the accident reached the police through emergency number Dial 100.

The truck driver abandoned his vehicle and fled, the police officer said .AIIMS director Randeep Guleria expressed his condolences on the "untimely and unfortunate" demise of the young resident doctors, according to a statement from the premier health institute. The director also constituted a team to provide care to the injured and assistance to the families of the deceased, the statement added.