Durgapur, Nov. 16: A 12-year-old Durgapur girl dancing on a cycle van during a Kali Puja procession died last night after her hair was caught in the conveyor belt of the generator and her head banged against the machine in the impact.

Police said Ritu Ghosh, a Class VIII student of Bidhannagar Girls' High School, died on the spot. Her 10-year-old brother, who was also with her, fainted seeing blood oozing out of her sister's head.

The generator was hired for the lights that illuminated several cycle vans in the procession and to operate the sound boxes. Residents said Ritu was known in the locality for her dancing skills and had urged the organisers to let her and some of her friends on the van, which also carried the generator.

"My sister and some other girls were dancing to the tune of Bollywood chartbusters. As soon as the idol was immersed in a pond in our locality, she climbed onto the cycle van where the generator was running. She was dancing when her long hair suddenly got entangled in the generator belt," said Toton Ghosh, her brother

The conveyor belt pulled the girl with such force that her head rammed into the generator and the skull was crushed.

The generator stopped because of the conveyor belt and the lights went out, prompting participants of the procession to run towards the cycle van to see what went wrong.

"The incident occurred within a few seconds and I could not react. It happened in front of eyes," sobbed Toton.

A club member said: "When I tried to pull the girl by the head, I found blood in my hands as her skull was crushed. We rushed both of them to hospital. But the girl's brother regained consciousness on the way."

Doctors at Durgapur sub-divisional hospital declared Ritu dead on arrival.

"The back of her skull was severely damaged and the bones were in pieces. The girl died instantly," a doctor at the hospital said.

A pall of gloom descended on Arrah locality where the girl used to stay in a rented house with her parents and brother.

Her father Manmatha Ghosh, a contract worker at a private steel plant in Durgapur town, was in Calcutta at the time of incident. He rushed back to Durgapur last night.

"My daughter used to take lessons in dancing at a local school and wanted to take part in television shows. She also used to perform dance in local musical programmes. I don't know how to survive without my daughter," the father said.