An accident victim lay bleeding on a Calcutta street early on Sunday while his partner tried in vain to convince the few taxis that were on the road to move him to hospital.

Milu Gayen, 19, was dead by the time Bapi, the driver of the smashed auto van he was in, managed to hire a taxi and take him to SSKM Hospital.

Bapi’s auto van had collided with a Matador at the intersection of Belvedere Road and AJC Bose Road at 5.10am. The Matador sped away after the accident.

Milu, a resident of Gariahat and Bapi’s help, was trapped under the auto van with fatal injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.

The deputy commissioner of police (headquarters), Vineet Goyal, said the accident probably occurred because the Matador driver took a sharp turn at high speed.

“The driver of the auto van told us that the Matador suddenly came in front of his vehicle. He slammed the brakes but could not avert the collision. The auto van overturned on impact.”

Another police officer said the Matador could have been traced had the auto van driver noted down or remembered its registration number. “But he was too busy looking for taxis to be bothered about that.”

Last year, a police van was among the vehicles that allegedly did not stop to help a motorcyclist who died after being knocked down on the Salt Lake-Rajarhat connector.