In another incident of reckless driving, hands of three passengers including that of a woman got severed from the arms while ten others sustained minor injuries when a bus they were traveling in was hit by a truck on Diamond Harbour Road on Tuesday morning.
The incident once again reminded the people about the perils of sticking their arms out of a moving vehicle.
The truck could not be traced and the bus driver fled from the spot after leaving the vehicle few metres away from the spot of the incident as the local people chased down the vehicle. The police began a hunt for the accused. Police said that the accident took place when the truck tried to overtake the bus on route number SD 26 coming towards Kolkata at Gangarampur under Bishnupur police station.
Police said that the truck lost control and hit the rear of the bus. Hands of three passengers sitting in the rear window seats got severed. Seeing the situation, the other passengers raised an alarm and the bus the driver fled leaving the vehicle on the street. It was a terrible sight when the local people entered the bus. The hands were severed from the elbows as a result of the impact of the accident and the severed parts of the arms were found lying on the floor of the bus. The other passengers who received injuries were also crying for help.
After attracted by a loud thud, the local residents rushed to the spot and took the injured victims to Amtala primary health centre in South 24 Parganas but the doctors told them that there is no proper infrastructure at the health centre to attach the severed arms. They, however, bandaged the damaged portions of their hands. Thus, the three injured victims were shifted to Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) while the other injured persons were let off after primary treatment.
The doctors at the CNMCH said that as there was a delay in bringing the patients whose portions of the hands got severed, it was difficult to repair the damage. Local people alleged that buses and trucks along Diamond Harbour drive at a very high speed flouting the "Safe Drive, Save Life" campaign of the district police. They often engage in overtaking with each other risking the lives of passengers and passersby. The passengers have over and again requested the police to set up camps to restrict the speed of heavy duty trucks but no such step has yet been taken.
Eyewitnesses alleged that the severed portion of one of the victims fell on the truck. The helper of the truck threw the severed portion of the hand inside the bus and fled the spot. All the three injured victims were sitting on the window sides with a portion of their hands outside the vehicle. The local residents told the police that the truck was carrying fishes.