The broken guard rail along the highway, through which the car slid into the water

Calcutta, June 18: The patter of rain hitting against the windscreen of the car was suddenly interrupted by what Ankit Gupta and his five associates thought was a “strange gurgle emerging almost from nowhere”.

It was dark outside and the Toyota Innova they were travelling in was moving at around 45km an hour.

“We had asked the driver to be careful as it was raining,” Gupta recalled, sitting in his hotel room a day after. “We proceeded very slowly and realised a little later that the strange gurgle we heard was actually the river washing the road and the water was rising steadily.”

At the time, the water level seemed ankle deep, so Gupta and his colleagues decided to move on. Soon, the way ahead was cleared of other vehicles and Gupta’s driver inched forward.

“Almost immediately we realised the current was too strong and that it was pushing us sideways,” Gupta said.

The driver then tried to put the car in reverse gear, but this time the water pushed the car to the railing to the right of the highway.

To stabilise the car’s movements, the driver applied the hand-brake. For 15 minutes, the car bobbed beside the railing as the water gushed around it, creating eddies and further raising the water level around.

Gupta thought this was the end of the road. “We were sitting petrified inside, not knowing what to do and, honestly, we were fearing the worst,” he said. “We didn’t expect to make it back alive.”

Although three of his associates are still missing, Gupta feels it is a wonder that four of the car’s occupants managed to make it to safety.

“We somehow grasped the railing and began to slide along it, praying that we did not lose our grip,” he said.

It took Gupta and the other three “at least” 15 minutes to reach the bridge barely 150 metres away.

“It was terrible then to wait and watch helplessly as the car got tossed around,” Gupta said. “We are now hoping against hope that the others have somehow survived.”