Three colleagues returning from their office were injured, one of them critically, when the car they were travelling in hit a truck from behind at the Eco Park crossing on Major Arterial Road in New Town early on Wednesday. Police said the driver of the car lost control while trying to overtake the truck.
“The accident took place around 6am. The truck had slowed down as the signal had turned red when the car rammed into it,” said an officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate.
A preliminary investigation showed the car, which was arranged by the office to drop employees home, was speeding, the officer said.
“The driver of the car escaped with minor injuries. The three injured colleagues were taken to Charnock Hospital at Chinar Park,” the officer said.
An official of the hospital said the condition of one of the passengers, Chandan Rajak, 30, who was in the rear seat, is critical.
“He suffered grievous head injuries and multiple skull fractures. He is being shifted to another hospital,” the official said on Wednesday evening. Prarthana Adhikary, 27, who was also in the rear seat, escaped with minor injuries.
“She was discharged from the Emergency after primary evaluation and management,” said the official of Charnock Hospital. Sumanta Banerjee, 26, the third injured colleague, was undergoing treatment at Charnock Hospital.
“He suffered head and facial injuries and also skull fracture. He is admitted under a neurosurgeon,” the hospital official said.
Banerjee was seated beside the driver. The police said the front side of the Maruti Ertiga was badly damaged.
The left front door and roof over the front seats were twisted. The front windshield was broken.
A police officer said the driver and Banerjee were wearing seat belts but not the passengers in the rear seat. An overwhelming majority of people occupying rear seats of cars do not wear seatbelts, though wearing one can save them from serious injuries or fatality in case of a road accident.
The death of Cyrus Mistry, former Tata Group chairman, in a car crash on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai highway on Sunday has turned into a wake up call for rear-seat passengers who do not bother to wear a seat belt.
Mistry, who was in the rear seat, was not wearing a belt though the car was moving at a high speed, officers in the Maharashtra police have said.
“A preliminary probe has pointed out overspeeding. We will conduct a mechanical test of the car,” said the officer.