A 23-year-old TCS employee died on Wednesday evening after being run over by a private bus while trying to cross the arterial New Town thoroughfare through a gap in the median divider.

A subway across the 59m-wide road is barely 10m from the accident spot near the Nazrul Tirtha bus stop.

Cops rushed Seema Kumari to a private hospital near Haldiram in a jeep within minutes of the accident but she was declared dead by doctors.

"The girl was bleeding profusely from a head injury," said Shankar Choudhury, the inspector in charge of New Town police station.

According to the police, the bus had overtaken a stationary bus when Seema came in front of it around 5.45pm.

Buses often speed down the corridor that connects Salt Lake with the airport. The dividers are about 2.5ft tall and have flowerbeds with bamboo fencing on top but many pedestrians slip through the gaps in between.

Construction of the subway near Nazrul Tirtha was a long-standing demand of New Town residents and office-goers. It was opened in December 2014.

Several other subways have been constructed on the stretch but many would rather risk running across the road than use them.

The bus that crushed Seema, which was plying on route DN47, was on the right lane of the airport-bound flank when it ran her over.

The bus has been impounded and the driver detained. The police are trying to ascertain how much the driver was at fault.

"It was unclear whether the driver was responsible for the accident. We have impounded the bus to examine its tyres and front fenders," said an officer.

According to doctors, Seema reached the emergency department of the hospital with a severe concussion and had lost a lot of blood.

"She was unconscious and had very weak pulse," a doctor said.

Seema also sustained injuries to her pelvic bone and one of her legs broke under the impact.

Seema, who hailed from Ranchi, had been staying as a paying guest in Salt Lake for a year, since she took up the job.