Patna, April 20 (IANS): The death of five students in a road accident on Monday morning triggered a violent protest by the local villagers in Bihar's Siwan district, police said.

Seven students were also injured in the accident. The students were going to Siwan in an auto rickshaw to attend their coaching classes when a car hit them near Tirbheriya village in Siwan.

Angry over the deaths, hundreds of people blocked roads, ransacked Siwan Sadar hospital and also torched half a dozen vehicles including six ambulances. Protesters also attacked police and pelted stones at them, when they tried to disperse them, a district police officer said.

"The protesters, who were mostly youths turned violent, when they found that doctors were missing from their duty and other staffs present appeared uninterested in the treatment of injured admitted to the hospital. They ransacked hospital and set ablaze vehicles in the premises," police said.