Two persons lost their right hands while two others suffered serious injuries on their arms when the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus they were travelling in was hit by a speeding truck on Flagstaff Road here on Monday.
The MTC bus, on route No. 11H bound for Parry's Corner from Iyyappanthangal, was apparently hit by a heavy vehicle around 8.15 p.m. All the four injured men are in the 25 to 40 age group.
The victims were admitted to the emergency ward of the Government General Hospital. The devastated relatives of the victims thronged the hospital.
V. Venkatakrishnan (26), a victim, said: “I was sitting by the window and suddenly a vehicle coming from the opposite side hit the bus. Only when I moved my hand I realised that my hand was gone.” Mr. Venkatakrishnan, employed in his father's business, was going to Mannady.
A. Murugan (35), a construction labourer from Ennore, was returning home when the incident occurred. His wife was inconsolable even as he was taken to the operation theatre for amputation three hours after the accident.
Police gave the names of the other two injured persons as A. Kazim of IOC Nagar in Korukkupet and G. Natarajan of West Mambalam.
Elephant Gate police said they were investigating the cause of the accident. “We do not know what vehicle hit the bus.
The vehicles routinely violate the yellow line on Flagstaff Road,” said a policeman who had been deputed to the hospital to take details of the accident from the victims.
MTC sources said it was not a heavy vehicle but a maxi-cab.
