Alipore: Shibaji Roy was alive and speaking for at least 15 minutes after he crashed his red Ferrari California T convertible on Sunday, according to a friend who was in another vehicle in the convoy of seven sports cars.

The front of the Ferrari was impaled on a rod jutting out of a guard wall of the Pakuria flyover, near Salap in Howrah.

A friend of Shibaji who was driving a black Lamborghini Aventador said the 42-year-old businessman had told him and the rest of the group to get a gas cutter because he was stuck waist down in his seat.

He couldn't be brought out until at least 40 minutes later.

"The police team did not have a gas cutter and so could not extricate him immediately," said the friend, a resident of Alipore.

There were two Porsches, two Ferraris and a couple of BMWs in the convoy. The passengers included children. The group, all members of a club of supercar owners, had visited a Cafe Coffee Day outlet on Durgapur Expressway for breakfast.

Shibaji crashed his car into the guard wall of the flyover when a truck that was in the left lane swerved right without signalling, those following him said.

"The truck was in the left lane and the driver sharply steered right without warning. Shibaji could not control the car and crashed into the guard wall with a portion jutting out," the friend said.

A team of forensic experts is likely to visit the accident site on Monday and inspect the mangled car, kept at Domjur police station.

According to another friend, Shibaji said he was suffocating and needed oxygen quickly.

An ambulance arrived at least half an hour after the crash, by which time Shibaji appeared to be slipping, the friend said.

The police and some residents of the area had tried to free Shibaji's legs using crowbars and iron rods, but this took a lot of time. "He was losing a lot of blood. He asked for water before losing consciousness," the friend said.

Shibaji's son, who passed his Class XII examination this year, had switched places with the daughter of another person in the group when she asked for a ride on the Ferrari. "His son was with him on the drive till the cafe. On the way back, the girl switched places with him," the friend said.

The critically injured girl was pulled out of the wreckage of the Ferrari long before Shibaji.

According to an officer at Domjur police station, the cops at the site did everything they could to get Shibaji out quickly. But members of the group alleged that there was no proper rescue plan, which hastened the businessman's death.

"He could have been saved if gas cutters were arranged quickly to remove the mangled metal in which he was trapped," a member of the group said.