Domjur: Police took 40 minutes to extricate Shibaji Roy from the mangled remains of his Ferrari California T on National Highway 6 on Sunday morning. The 42-year-old died while being taken to hospital.

The police officer, who was part of a team that brought out Roy, has more than two decades of experience in handling accident victims. He spoke to Metro on what he encountered while trying to rescue Roy.

It is easier to take out a person trapped inside or under a car if we are sure he has expired. But when the person is alive, we have to be more cautious. When I reached the spot, the man at the wheel was alive. His head was down and he was whimpering.

I have seen truck and car accidents where victims were sandwiched between the engine and the body of the vehicle. We try to bring out such victims after pulling aside the engine.

When I reached the accident spot on National Highway 6 on Sunday, it took me some minutes to understand the structure of the car first.

The front part had ripped off and it appeared that the engine had crashed into the lower half of the victim's body. Three of the four airbags had been deployed, which possibly prevented him from ramming into the steering wheel.

The airbag on the left, where a girl was sitting, did not deploy. Bringing out the girl after opening the left door did not pose much problems.

But the man at the wheel was completely stuck. We immediately alerted the ambulance and cranes that are kept as standbys along the national highway. Two cranes arrived.

We usually attach the hook of a crane to the engine and pull it up to ease the pressure on the victim.

But as none of us handled a Ferrari before, fixing the hook to the engine proved to be a challenge.

Whatever tactic we thought of carried the risk of causing more pain and harm to the man.

Our priority was to extricate him alive.

Adding to our problems, fuel had spilled all over the place. We could not use gas-cutters that might lead to an explosion.

We kept trying hooking the crane with the engine. We finally succeeded but the engine was heavier than we had thought. The crane had to be operated at a slow pace.

Once the engine was removed, we could reach the man. He had suffered critical injuries. There was practically nothing left of his left leg. Yet, I hoped he would survive.

We completed the operation in less than 40 minutes. We did our best. But sometime later I learnt that the victim did not survive. I hope the young girl recovers fast.