A police official said one of the occupants was detained. (Representational)
An 11-year-old girl and two women were killed and 15 others were injured, including three critically, as an SUV rammed into a wedding gathering near the bride's house in Odisha's Ganjam district, police said on Wednesday.
The incident took place in Mandiapalli in the Gopalpur area late on Tuesday night when 50 people, mostly women relatives of the bride, were waiting on the roadside for the groom, Gopalpur Police Station in-charge Sarada Prasana Das said.
The victims were identified as Sanjukta Reddy (23) of Mandiapalli, Sapna Reddy (21) of Chhatrapur and Bharati Reddy (11) of Lanjipalli locality of Berhampur, a senior police officer said.
After the incident, the driver of the vehicle and some other occupants fled the spot, leaving behind the vehicle, which has a Chhattisgarh registration number, Berhampur Sadar Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Siba Shankar Mohapatra said.
He said one of the occupants was detained and efforts are underway to catch the rest.
Three critically injured people were referred to Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, and Visakhapatnam, while the remaining 12 injured people are undergoing treatment at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.
Among the injured people are two cameramen recording the proceedings of the wedding.
"While we were busy decorating the area, all of a sudden, a speeding SUV rammed into the gathering. The driver might have been in an inebriated condition," a person undergoing treatment in a hospital said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief over the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 3 lakh each for the family of the victims. He hoped for a speedy recovery of the injured.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also condoled the deaths.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)