Two mishaps in the Maidan area, barely 200 metres from each other, killed two men on Sunday morning.

The first mishap occurred around 4.40am at the crossing of Mayo Road and Dufferin Road when a taxi carrying four passengers collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction.

“It was raining and there was no traffic cop on the road. The vehicles must have been speeding and lost control on the slippery surface,” said an officer of Maidan police station.

The 40-year-old taxi driver was taken to SSKM Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. He was identified as Mahendra Jadav, a resident of Harish Chatterjee Road.

The other four passengers had suffered minor injuries and were discharged after first aid.

The truck driver fled after the accident. The vehicle was impounded by Maidan police.

In the other mishap, a 37-year-old man, riding pillion on his nephew’s motorcycle, was crushed under the wheels of a private bus near JK Island.

“The incident took place around 10.20am. Arup Panchal, who was riding pillion on Maheswar Kole’s two-wheeler, fell on the road after a private bus hit the motorcycle from behind while turning towards Outram Road. The bus ran over Panchal,” said Vineet Goyal, the deputy commissioner (headquarters) of police.

“The man was bleeding profusely from his head as the bus sped away from the spot. Being a Sunday, there was no policeman to stop the bus,” said Anup Hajra, a hawker.

The zone has always been accident prone, he added.

“A preliminary investigation revealed that the vehicles had stopped at the traffic lights. Once the signal turned green, the bus hit the motorcycle,” said an officer of the traffic department.

Panchal and Kole were taken to SSKM Hospital. A doctor declared Panchal dead while Kole was released after treatment.

Shortage of traffic policemen on the road on Sundays has resulted in several fatal mishaps, said a senior officer at Lalbazar. “We usually deploy 3,000 traffic policemen and sergeants on weekdays. But on Sundays, there are only about 1,000 traffic policemen on the road.”

He added: “We are thinking of increasing the number of policemen on the road on holidays. Taking advantage of poor vigilance, motorists often drive faster than the speed limit on holidays.”