Barasat, March 16: Uma Maity’s arm was ripped off from her elbow and two rods pierced her throat and temple as the bus she was travelling to work in raced another this morning.

For a few minutes after her arm fell on the road below, the 47-year-old widow screamed in pain. Then she died.

“We have seized both the buses. We have launched a search for the drivers of both buses who have escaped,” said Supratim Sarkar, the North 24-Parganas superintendent of police. The drivers have been charged with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”, he added.

Yesterday, a 24-year-old software engineer crossing the road was dragged 100 feet by a bus racing another in Salt Lake. Debjani Sinha, who had started work in a reputable company in Sector V only three months ago, died in hospital hours later.

Uma, who worked as a cook in half-a-dozen homes on Bangur Avenue, had a window seat in a private bus on the DN-18 route and was sitting with her left elbow sticking out.

When the bus travelling to Shyambazar reached the Baduria market in North 24-Parganas, another DN-18 bus came up from behind. The two drivers started racing each other, going at breakneck speed.

Around 7.15am, the buses reached the congested Berachampa four-point crossing, about 50km from Calcutta, and were forced to slow down because of the traffic.

“Suddenly, the bus Uma was in veered sharply to the left to prevent the one behind it from overtaking it. A sand-laden lorry was parked on the left side of the road with an iron chain fitted with a big hook dangling from its side,” a police officer said.

Uma’s elbow got entangled in the hook and she started shouting. But the bus lurched forward as the driver began his race again, flinging her at the window at full force. The window rods began to bend on impact.

“I started shouting at the top of my voice asking the conductor to stop the bus,” said Apurba Majhi, another passenger. Within seconds, the iron rods came off the window. One went into her temple and the other pierced her throat. “The conductor signalled the driver to stop. But by the time the bus stopped, her arm had been ripped off and was lying on the road.”

Other passengers rushed to the woman who was still howling as she sat transfixed.

“Some of the passengers managed to free Uma of the window rods and lay her down on the floor of the bus,” said Gautam Dey, a phone booth owner in the area. By then, the bleeding woman had fallen silent.

Police arrived from the local Deganga police station in about 10 minutes and took her to the local health centre, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Residents of the neighbourhood threw stones at both buses and smashed their windscreens.