Government posturing and Opposition protest-speak could neither save a 23-year-old man’s life nor a 12-year-old girl’s legs on Thursday.

The day began with the death of Debasish Thakur, hit by a speeding truck on VIP Road, near Bangur Avenue, while the youth was heading for Dum Dum airport.

Thakur, who had started working for a travel agency three days ago, left his Haridevpur residence early on Thursday to accompany three tourists to the airport.

The Ambassador they were travelling in developed a snag near Bangur Avenue. Thakur got off to try and flag down a taxi to proceed to the airport.

A speeding truck appeared out of nowhere, knocked him down and sped away. Thakur was taken to a local healthcare unit, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Later in the day, young Putul Das fell victim to a double blow that left her with severe leg injuries. Putul, 12, was first knocked down around 11.30am by a speeding motorcycle on DC Dey Road, in Tangra. As she fell down, a Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) truck grazed past her. Putul fell unconscious.

She was taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital. Ward doctors treating her till late on Thursday said she had suffered serious leg injuries and was being given blood.

After the accident, a mob set up a roadblock. Police arrested S. Naskar, the driver of the CMC truck.

Two other accidents had earlier left a traffic constable and a youth nursing injuries.

Narottam Pati, the constable, suffered head injuries when a private bus on route 57 hit him on the Brabourne Road approach to Howrah bridge around 9.30am. Pati was first taken to Medical College and Hospital and then shifted to AMRI. The bus driver was arrested.

Around the same time, Ravish Agarwal was injured after a car hit him while he was crossing NS Road, in front of GPO. The resident of Belvedere Estate fell to the ground and hurt his head.

He was taken to a private nursing home, where he is undergoing treatment. The driver of the car was later arrested by Hare Street police.

In another development, the bus conductor who was arrested on Wednesday for pushing a professor off a private bus was charged with attempted murder and remanded in police custody for six days.

Tarak Guha had pushed Tapas Singha Roy, head of the commerce department at Rammohan College, off the bus on route 78/1.