An intended birthday celebration ended in tragedy on Sunday as five powerlifters from a northwest Delhi neighbourhood died while another was injured in a car crash at the border with Haryana.

Among those killed was Saksham Yadav, who won a gold medal for India at the World Championship in Moscow last year.

The men were on their way to a dhaba at Murthal village in Haryana’s Sonepat district in search of paranthas. Sources say the Maruti Swift Dzire sedan they were travelling in was going at 130kmph when the driver lost control.

Officials at the Alipur police station believe a deadly cocktail of speed, alcohol and fog on the highway triggered the crash.

Apart from Saksham, those killed have been identified as Tikamchand, Yogesh, Harish, and Saurabh. While the others died on the spot, Saksham was taken to AIIMS where he succumbed to his injuries.

Another person injured, identified as Rohit, is also in critical condition and admitted at Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra Hospital in Narela. All the victims were close friends and practised together.

“It was Tikamchand’s birthday on Saturday and they wanted to celebrate the occasion. They had a liquor party in Delhi for the entire night and then decided to go to Murthal to make the birthday a memorable one,” said an investigating officer in the case.

The car crashed into the pavement of Delhi-Chandigarh national highway (GT Road).

The bonnet hit the ground and the roof struck three steel pillars and the vehicle tumbled over at least six times before coming to a stop. A police team reached the spot about half an hour after the accident around 4am.

The impact of the crash was such that body parts of some of the victims and the car were strewn all over the area.

All of them were first taken to the hospital in Narela and then referred to Max hospital in Shalimar Bagh and AIIMS.

“The victims are residents of Timarpur’s Sanjay Basti and Saksham Yadav was a prominent powerlifter with international fame. The others participated in amateur events,” the investigating official said.

The area is notorious for such accidents involving patrons of the paranthas. Four allegedly drunk teenagers returning from Murthal were injured on November 7 last year after their car rammed into a road divider.

They had gone to have the famed paranthas of the Haryana locality, about 50 km from Delhi. On June 4, 2016, six friends travelling in an SUV rammed into a stationary truck from behind early in the morning at GT Road in another fatal crash.

A trip with four friends to Murthal to eat the paranthas on his birthday proved to be the last trip for 22-year-old businessman Rajesh Bhatia on January 21, 2012.

The car they were travelling in crashed into a roadside tree in outer Delhi’s Narela.

“I was informed about the accident at 6 in the morning through a call made by the police. As all of them (victims) are residents of the same lane, the shockwave spread like a flash,” said Rakesh Kumar, Harish’s cousin.

He added that Harish was practising hard to participate in a state-level powerlifting champion ship.

“Saurabh was the sole earner of the family. He was running the house after his father died five years ago and his elder brother separated from the family,” said Saurabh’s mother Chanchal Kashyap.