One killed, 3 injured as bus collides with truck while competing with another

A middle-aged man was killed and two others were injured in a road accident in which a private bus collided with a truck while racing with another bus on the same route.

The incident took place at Amta in Howrah on Thursday morning. Police said that the victim Seikh Lalchand was a resident of Jhikira in Amta.

A police officer said that they came to know from people who witnessed the incident that both the buses were racing with each other to get

more passengers from the next bus stop.

The buses were racing with each other for 10 minutes and the drivers did not listen to passengers who were shouting at them to stop racing against one another, said a survivor.

The accident took place when the buses were on their way down from Betai Setu.

One of the two buses failed to control its speed after overtaking the other one and hit a bamboo-laden truck.

Local police initiated the rescue work and were later joined by the police. The bamboos on the truck pierced through the windscreen of the private bus and through the abdomen of Lalchand who was sitting in the front seat just beside the driver. He also received severe injuries on his head.

All three of them were taken to Amta Rural Hospital where Lalchand was declared brought dead while two others were admitted with severe injuries.

Local people alleged that drivers of private buses often risk the lives of passengers as they race most times on this particular stretch to get more passengers. Despite being directed, the drivers still don't pay heed to the warnings and drive the buses at a breakneck speed, specially while getting down from Batai Setu.

The incident also led to traffic congestion in the area. The police took both the vehicles to police station. Wrecker vans were engaged to remove the offending bus from the road in order to avoid traffic congestion.

A police officer said that all necessary steps including creating awareness among drivers not to race have been taken to avoid road accidents.