At least Three people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in various degrees when a pick-up van, in which they were returning home from a crematorium, was hit by a goods laden tractor in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Saturday night, official sources said on Sunday.

All the five injured have been admitted to the Jangipur Mahakuma hospital at Raghunathganj. Some of the wounded persons were in critical condition. Of them four were shifted to the Baharampur hospital.

The dead and injured persons, all belonged to Nalhati in Birbhum district of the state.

Sources said the bereaved relatives and their friends had hire a four-wheeler to travel to  Raghunathganj crematorium for the last rites of a dead and when the were returning home in the pickup van, a stone laden tractor hit the van head on, throwing most of the 40 people from the open vehicle in the dark.

While three of them died on the spot, 30 others received wounds, sources added.

One of the eye-witnesses said when he regained consciousness, he found himself on the metal road.

(With UNI inputs)