Three persons were killed on Sunday in two separate accidents on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district, police said. While two persons died when a load carrier skidded off the road and fell into a deep gorge near Sherbibi, an earth mover operator lost his life when he got hit by a boulder near Ramban town, a police official said.

Driver Kali Dass (35) and his helper Talib Hussain (28),both residents of Udhampur, were killed on the spot when their load carrier plunged into a deep gorge in the morning near Sherbibi in Banihal town, the official said. He said both the bodies were retrieved from the scene by rescuers. In the other incident, earth mover operator Chail Singh (40), a resident of Gool, was killed when he was hit by a boulder from the hillockoverlooking the highway near Ramban town around 3 am, the official said.

Singh, working on the ongoing four-laning highway project,was clearing the debris when the incident occurred, the official said.Meanwhile, officials said the highway is open for one-way traffic as per thewinter arrangement, under which the traffic plies alternatively from Srinagarand Jammu to facilitate smooth work on the ongoing highway project. Vehiculartraffic was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu in the morning, the officials saidadding that the security convoys were first cleared for travel followed by passengervehicles around noon.