The wreckage of the private bus involved in a collision with a truck and an autorickshaw in north Calcutta on Thursday morning. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Sixteen people were injured early on Thursday after a truck, a private bus and an autorickshaw collided in front of Khanna cinema, on Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, in the Burtola police station area.

All three vehicles were impounded, though no arrest was reported.

Among the injured, the condition of nine was stated to be serious. Police said seven persons were discharged after first-aid. Two persons in critical condition were transferred to SSKM Hospital and Calcutta Medical College and Hospital from RG Kar, where the others are being treated.

Deputy commissioner (headquarters) Sanjoy Mukherjee said: ?The two critically-injured were passengers of the autorickshaw. They are yet to be identified.?

Officers at Burtola police station blamed the accident on rash driving. The bus, moving towards Howrah, tried to outspeed a truck. Its brakes failed and it collided with another truck and the autorickshaw coming from the opposite direction at a high speed.

?As it was still early, the road was more or less empty and the drivers didn?t follow the traffic rules,? said an officer.

Witnesses said no traffic cop was at the accident-prone site when the mishap took place. Police blamed the spurt in road accidents and casualty count on the increase in the number of vehicles. ?The number has almost trebled over the past five years, ? said Ratan Mukherjee, a local resident.