Sujata Roy, who was accompanying her 12-year-old daughter to school when the bus they were in met with an accident on Monday morning, survived with three fractures in her left arm.
Glass shards had pierced her arms and chest and she also suffered injuries on her forehead that required nine stitches.
The fractured arm is in a sling. A doctor the family has consulted has advised immediate surgery to insert a metal plate to fix the fracture.
The mother of one is on sedative, yet she could not sleep on Monday night. “Not just because of the pain in my head and neck. Every time I was closing my eyes in a desperate attempt to sleep, the images of the bus toppling over and children and others flying off their seats were flashing across,” Sujata told Metro sitting at her Baranagar home on Tuesday.
The bus carrying 12 students of Holy Child Institute, on Abhedananda Road (Beadon Street), and six guardians toppled on its side after smashing into a signal post and running into a mound of sand near the base of the Chitpore Lockgate flyover in Bagbazar on Monday.
Officials of the transport department said the bus (WB-25C 3122), hired by guardians to ferry their children to school and back home, did not have a fitness certificate and the owner had also not cleared road tax dues.
Sujata was sitting on the first seat on the left, Arshiya was with friends at the rear.
The bus apparently started speeding minutes after it collided with a four-wheeler at the Sinthee crossing.
“The bus picked up speed on the Lockgate flyover. It was overtaking one car after another. All of us were shouting at the driver to slow down but in vain. After descending from the flyover, the bus took a sharp left turn at the same speed,” Sujata recounted.
“The bus tilted to its left and the driver started moving the steering wheel vigorously in the opposite direction. The bus then rammed into a signal post and hit a heap of sand before toppling on its side.”
Sujata was flung in the air and she passed out after landing on the floor of the bus. The first thing she did after regaining consciousness was to look for Arshiya. She spotted her daughter at the rear of the bus. Sujata passed out again.
“When I came to I saw people rescuing passengers. I was worried that no one would be able to rescue me because of my weight. I tried to lift myself up but my left arm had become numb. With my right hand I could feel blood all over my face. I could barely see. At that point some people came to my rescue,” she said.
She was taken to RG Kar hospital with her daughter, who suffered leg injuries.
“The man from whom we had hired the bus visited us at night and asked my wife not to lodge a complaint. But we will report against him to the police,” Sujata’s husband Dipankar Roy said.