Bus passengers' arms ripped off

KOLKATA: Sergeant Tarun Maity can���t get the gory sight out of his mind. Two severed arms, still spurting blood, lying on the road between two crashed buses. A passenger trying to reattach his chopped-off right arm to a single strand of flesh that hung from his shoulder as a couple nearby screamed in agony. Blood and chunks of flesh lay splattered on the road and the two buses.
Rash driving maimed three bus passengers on Tuesday in one of the most horrible accidents to have occurred in Kolkata.The triple tragedy is a grim reminder of another horrific accident involving road rage by two bus drivers in October 2005, in which passenger Sukhari Paswan lost his left hand.
All three victims of Tuesday���s accident are in a critical condition. The drivers and conductors of both buses fled the scene. Four other bus passengers are badly injured.
Doctors at two of the premier hospitals of the city battled for hours to try and save the arms of 42-year-old Barun Chakraborty, his wife Jaya (35) and Ashish Pal (38), but in vain. Jaya was still in surgery till late in the night.
The Chakrabortys and their son Shubhadip (5) had boarded the route 121 minibus (WB25A 2392) in Behala to go to Howrah for a check-up. Pal, a Guwahati-based trader, was going to Burrabazar on business.
After hitting Dufferin Road around 11 am, the driver floored the accelerator in a bid to overtake a car, say passengers. There are no dividers on Dufferin Road and a strip of white paint is all that tells drivers to mind their lane. At that very moment, a 12C Howrah-Joka bus roared in from the opposite direction. The minibus driver panicked, swerved right and then sharply left. The two buses scraped past each other at great speed. The Chakraborty couple and Pal probably had their hands jutting outside the window, say police. The impact tore the right arms of Pal and Jaya Chakraborty off the shoulders. Barun���s was left hanging on a few strands of tissues. Blood sprayed on passengers and the other bus and chunks of flesh stuck to the window grilles.
The sight was so gory that Maity had to call in other officers. ���The woman was lying on a seat smeared in blood. A man stood behind her, trying to keep his hand from falling out,��� Maity said.
Chakraborty is the librarian of Jadavpur University���s printing technology department and had taken a day���s leave. ���We are too shocked to say anything. Jaya is extremely critical,��� said Diptendu Chowdhury, principal of the printing technology institute. Chakraborty���s colleagues rushed to the couple���s aid.
���A case under IPC Section 308 for attempt to culpable homicide has been started against both drivers. They are still absconding,��� said Jawed Shamim, joint commissioner of police (HQ).