A 45-year-old tailor standing on the footboard of a bus lost a portion of his left arm while trying to balance his swaying sling bag as the vehicle swerved dangerously in Tollygunge on Thursday morning.

Utpal Karmakar’s hand was severed from below the elbow after it hit a pillar of a building. The detached arm landed in a drain and was recovered by some residents who jumped to Karmakar’s rescue as he fell off the bus and consciousness.

Karmakar was taken to MR Bangur Hospital, where doctors of the orthopaedic department tried joining the two parts through a vascular surgery but failed. The tissues of the severed arm had been damaged beyond repair with lacerated wounds in the wake of a “crush injury”, they said.

The tailor was headed for his shop on Kalighat Road near Muktadal Sangha club in a state bus of route S 4-C when the accident occurred on MG Road near Karunamoyee Kali Temple around 9.10am.

Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

“It was a crowded bus and I was standing on the footboard. A woman was in front of me and I tried pushing her inside. I had a bag on my left shoulder and it was falling off. Just as I tried grabbing it, my elbow hit something,” Karmakar told Metro from his hospital bed. “I don’t know what happened next. But I am feeling acute pain in my left shoulder.”

The stretch of MG Road where the accident occurred is around 20 feet wide with no median divider. It leads to a four-point intersection with Siriti on the left, Kudghat on the right, Tollygunge up straight and Haridevpur behind. Right opposite the accident spot is a bustling market. During morning and evening rush hours, buses, Matador vans, cars and two-wheelers vie for space on the congested road, residents said.

The driver of the bus in which Karmakar was travelling was speeding down MG Road towards Tollygunge, police said. As the bus approached the Karunamoyee crossing, the driver suddenly swerved to the left, apparently to make way for a speeding two-wheeler coming from the opposite direction.

The bus in which Karmakar was travelling standing on the footboard and (below) Karmakar at MR Bangur Hospital Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

“As the bus swerved, I thought for a split second that the gap between the building and me was enough for a close shave,” said Karmakar, who fell off the low-floor new-age Ashok Leyland bus as his arm went flying into a drain.

A traffic constable on duty near the crossing went rushing to his aid, along with a few others. While some fished out the severed arm from the drain, others arranged for an autorickshaw to take him to hospital. The severed arm reached a little later.

“It was a crush injury. The nerves and veins were damaged beyond repair. It was not possible to rejuvenate the severed part,” said Zulfikar Ali, the orthopaedic surgeon who treated Karmakar at Bangur hospital. “There was no delay in bringing the severed arm. But the nature of injury was unfortunately too severe for a reconstruction.”

The eldest of three siblings, Karmakar has a younger brother and a sister besides ailing parents. His father has been confined to bed since after a stroke and his mother, too, has been rendered immobile by acute osteoporosis.

Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

“My brother ran his family with the earnings from his tailoring shop. What will happen to him now?” asked Utpal, the younger brother who is a security guard.

“Every morning he would take this bus to reach his shop. Today he was bit late,” said Karmakar’s wife, Mira. “My son is a Class XII dropout and does odd jobs”

Haridevpur police have drawn up a case of rash and negligent driving against the bus driver. “We are also trying to collect CCTV footafe,” said an officer. “The driver will be traced soon.”