A 75-year-old patient died and six persons were injured when a private bus hit an ambulance at the intersection of DL Khan Road and AJC Bose Road, close to Trauma Care Centre of SSKM Hospital, on Monday night.
Police said the bus hit the ambulance around 9pm on Monday, while trying to speed through the traffic signal at the junction.
The ambulance driver allegedly jumped the red light to rush the patient, Noor Haque Molla, to a private hospital.
Molla, of Mollarpara in Budge Budge, suffered multiple injuries and was declared dead on arrival at SSKM Hospital.
The injured were all in the ambulance. Four of them were discharged from SSKM Hospital after treatment.
The ambulance driver, Alamgir Naskar, has been admitted to the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital. Another person, Babai Quazi, 28, is undergoing treatment at SSKM Hospital’s Trauma Care Centre.
Doctors said Quazi, a resident of Shibpur in Howrah, had suffered head injuries.
“The private bus on the Dharmatala-Diamond Harbour route was speeding down DL Khan Road because the driver possibly sensed that the signal would turn red soon,” said a senior officer at Hastings police station.
“He did not possibly hear the siren of the ambulance and hit the vehicle on its left while it was rushing towards Vidyasagar Setu.”
The police have learnt that the group had hired the ambulance to rush Noor to a private hospital in Alipore after he complained of breathlessness.
The ambulance driver jumped the signal to avoid delay in transporting the patient to the hospital.
Eyewitnesses told the police that the driver of the bus tried to apply the brakes but failed to avert the collision. The bus dashed the ambulance on the side where Noor was lying on a stretcher.
“We are looking for the driver of the bus. Both vehicles have been seized,” the officer said.
Motorists say the junction of DL Khan Road and AJC Bose Road has one of the longest cycle-times for signal changeover because of heavy flow of traffic.
Vehicles moving down AJC Bose Road, Hospital Road, DL Khan Road and the AJC Bose Road flyover travel through the intersection, making it one of the busiest in the city.
“Motorists usually try to speed through the intersection because once the signal turns red, it will be green again after several minutes,” said Soumya Ghoshal, a resident of Behala in southwest Kolkata who drives to his Dalhousie office in the central part of the city every day.
The police said a case of rash and negligent driving has been drawn up against the driver and the bus has been sent for a mechanical test.
“We have contacted the bus owner and hope to track down the driver soon,” an officer of the fatal squad of the traffic police department said.