Two women were killed in separate road crashes in Kolkata within five minutes on Wednesday morning, with one incident involving a pedestrian and the other a scooter rider, police said.
The first crash was reported around 9.50am on BB Ganguly Street in Bowbazar. Krishna Das, 58, was walking in front of 49 BB Ganguly Street when a bus operating on the Sealdah-Howrah route allegedly hit her, according to the police. The bus and its driver were taken to Bowbazar police station after the crash.
Das was taken to Medical College Kolkata, where she was declared dead. The report did not provide further details about the circumstances leading to the collision or whether any case had been registered against the driver.
The second crash had been reported around 9.45am on Circular Garden Reach Road, under the jurisdiction of West Port police station. Faraha Naaz, 25, was riding a scooter when it skidded off the carriageway, police said. She suffered head injuries and was taken to a private hospital, where she was declared dead.
An officer of the local police station said Naaz was not wearing a helmet. The police seized the scooter. The report did not specify whether another vehicle was involved in the crash or what caused the scooter to skid.
The two incidents occurred on different roads and involved different types of road users, but together they point to the exposure faced by people travelling without the physical protection of a vehicle frame. Pedestrians on busy arterial roads can be vulnerable when buses and other heavy vehicles operate close to them. Two-wheeler riders can suffer severe injuries even in a single-vehicle crash, particularly when helmets are not worn.
The incidents also come amid recurring complaints about bus driving practices in the city, including allegations of excessive speed, abrupt lane changes and competition among buses for passengers. The supplied report did not identify whether such behaviour contributed to the Bowbazar crash, and no conclusion about the cause of either accident was provided.
Police action following the two crashes included taking the bus and its driver to Bowbazar police station and seizing the scooter involved in the Circular Garden Reach Road incident. The authorities’ next steps in the two cases, including any investigation findings or legal action, were not specified in the report.
