The cyclist who was hit by a bus at the Sarat Bose Road-Rashbehari Avenue crossing on Saturday said on Sunday he would have died had he not moved a little after falling on the road.

Rabi Das, 42, spoke to The Telegraph from his bed at SSKM Hospital.

A bus on route 234 (Belghoria-Golf Green) trying to overtake another on the same route had hit Das around 4.20pm on Saturday.

He has suffered multiple fractures and dislocations. His blood vessels, tissues and arteries have been damaged, a doctor at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan, where he was taken after the accident, had said on Saturday.

Das, an employee of Lake Club, said he had been cycling to work from his home off Sarat Bose Road for 36 years. “I have always been uneasy about buses racing each other,” he said.

“I had shouted ‘Kya kar rahe ho’ when I realised the bus on route 234 was turning left towards Gariahat at high speed and would hit me from behind,” Das said.

“I thank my stars that I did not lose consciousness after falling on the road. I tried to roll over as I saw a second bus hurtling towards me.

“I managed to move my head and upper torso out of the way but the rear wheels went over my right leg.”

Das lives in Grove Lane behind Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan.

“The buses were vying to pick up passengers from Rashbehari Avenue,” a traffic police officer had said after the accident.

“The bus that hit Das tried to overtake the other bus,” the officer had said.

The police have seized both buses and arrested the drivers for rash and negligent driving.

Das was shifted to SSKM Hospital on Saturday night. Doctors at the hospital said he had lost lot of blood but his condition was stable.

He would need surgery, a hospital official said on Sunday afternoon.

“His haemoglobin level is low at the moment because of blood loss. We have given him a unit of blood and would give him another at night,” the official said. “Doctors on Monday morning will decide when he will undergo surgery.”

Bus drivers speed on Sarat Bose Road, especially between the Hazra and Rashbehari crossings, in the rush to pick up passengers, Das said from his hospital bed.

Das — who lives with wife Pratima, son Pravin, 11, a student of Class VI at National High School, and daughter Pritha, 8, a Class III student

at Khalsa High School — said he always cycled slowly but could not avert the accident.

He said he was almost midway on Rashbehari Avenue and headed towards Southern Avenue when the right edge of the bus’s bumper hit him while turning left.

He fell on impact and saw the other bus headed towards him as it, too, turned left.

He tried to roll over and was able to get his head and upper torso out of the way. “The rear wheel of the second bus went over my right leg. I was in severe pain and I could see blood gushing out but I remained conscious and told people where I work and live.”

Das is a washerman and also works as a waiter at Lake Club.

“Drivers on the same route start racing the moment they spot each other,” a police officer said.

“They try to pick up as many passengers as possible, putting the lives of people on the road as well as on the buses at risk. We try our best to prosecute such rogue drivers,” the officer said.