Two third-year MBBS students of the ESI Joka Medical College and Hospital died after the motorcycle they were riding was hit by a truck trying to overtake the two-wheeler on James Long Sarani near Thakurpukur early on Sunday.
Police said both students were wearing helmets at the time of the accident.
They had gone out for a night out and were part of a group of medical students, police said.
The truck hit them while trying to overtake the motorcycle from the right side. The two medical students fell on the road and came under the wheels of the killer truck. The truck driver fled and could not be identified till late on Sunday.
The crash was reported at the crossing of JL Sarani and Purba Para Road close to Behala Barisha around 3.30 am on Sunday.
The spot where the accident happened is around 3 kilometres from the medical college and hospital, formally known as the ESI-PGIMSR, ESIC Medical College & Hospital, and ODC (EZ), Joka.
The victims have been identified as Anand Priyadarshi, 23, and Mohammad Faiaz Zaman Mallick, 23. Priyadarshi, who was riding the two-wheeler, lived in Anita Apartment in Tollygunge but was originally from Patna in Bihar. Pillion rider Mallick was from Raghunathpur in Bhangar, the police said.
CCTV footage shows a truck hitting the bike from behind while overtaking it on its right.
Police said Priyadarshi and Mallick were part of a group of six medical students who had stepped out of the college on three motorcycles for a night out.
Around 3.30am they were returning to the college campus when the crash took place.
The CCTV footage shows one of the bikes carrying two men crossing the stretch. A few seconds later, the second bike is seen. Within less than a second, the third bike is seen catching up from the right. Almost immediately, the truck tried to overtake the third bike from the right and ended up hitting it.
The two men are thrown off the bike.
“Mallick’s head (the pillion rider) came under the wheels of the truck. The other student was also fatally injured,” said one of the students of the college who learned about the accident much later.
They were declared dead at the ESI hospital, where their bodies underwent a postmortem on Sunday afternoon.
College officials said the two MBBS students who had gone out on a bike were hit by a truck.
“Both were third-year MBBS students. Mohammad Faiaz Zaman Mallick is from Bengal, while Anand Priyadarshi is from Patna. Their families have come. We are trying to arrange an ambulance to send Priyadarshi’s body to Patna,” Nandakishore Alva N., dean of the medical college, told Metro on Sunday.
A case was started with the Thakurpukur police station.
The investigation of the case was later handed over to the fatal squad of the traffic police.
“We are analysing CCTV footage from all nearby cameras to get a better glimpse of the truck. The footage, which shows the accident, has grainy pixels. We have not been able to identify the truck from that footage,” said a senior officer of the traffic department of the Kolkata Police.
James Long Sarani, which runs parallel to Diamond Harbour Road, is a corridor for the movement of heavy goods vehicles such as trucks and lorries, sources in the traffic department said.
“Trucks and lorries represent a significant portion of lawbreakers on the roads and account for a considerable percentage of the overall fatal accidents in the city,” said an assistant commissioner of police from the traffic department of Kolkata Police.