Teacher killed, 7 injured in excursion tragedy

Midnapore: A college excursion turned to tragedy on Sunday evening when a jeep collided with a truck, killing a professor and injuring another teacher and six students. The group was returning from Balasore when the accident happened on NH60 near the Bengal-Odisha border.
Zoology professor Satya Sundar Burman, 56, took the full impact of the crash and died almost instantly.He taught zoology at Chandannagore Government College in Hooghly. All the other victims - including Prof Prabal De - are from Bidhannagar Government College.
The trail of tragedy didn't end there. A police ambulance that carried Burman's body to his home in Bally, met with an accident on the way back on Monday afternoon, seriously injuring the driver and two police officers. The ambulance skidded and hit a tree on NH7 at West Midnapore's Belda.
ASI Manisankar Mahanta, posted with Dantan police station, Orissa police SI Baidyanath Marandi and driver Badal Mandal were injured. Mahanta was shifted to NRS hospital in Kolkata when his condition turned critical.
The 26 students and three professors had left Kolkata on May 10. On the return trip, Burman and De were in a jeep with five girls - Sayani Sadhu Khan, Monideepa Nandi, Sananda Chatterjee, Payel Sarkar, Bidisha Sarkar - and another student Gautam Patra.
"It was very dark.I had nearly dozed off when there was a huge crash and I felt a violent impact. I saw that we had collided with a truck. All of us were injured but Prof Burman seemed to be hurt the worst. He was not moving," said Gautam. Sayani, who was in the middle-seat, said: "Our driver was caught completely unawares when the truck ahead of us suddenly stopped. He tried to swerve but couldn't avoid a collision. Prof Burman and the driver took the brunt of the impact."
Assistant professor Anup Dutta Gupta realized at the border toll-plaza that the fourth vehicle was missing. "When we heard what happened, we turned back after informing the college tour coordinator in Kolkata," he said. It is learnt that calls were also made to the chief ministers' office. At the intervention of the CMO, Burman's body was brought to Bally overnight and all the injured were taken to Kharagpur hospital. The other team members, still in shock, were put up by Kharagpur police in a local hotel. They were brought to Kolkata on Monday morning.
At a condolence meeting at Chandanagore Government College, principal Manas Ranjan Majumdar said: "Prof Burman wasn't only a senior colleague, but a friend as well. I am yet to meet a person so affable and cheerful who was always regarded as a friend by students. I am shocked and have no words to console his wife and children." Bidhanagar Government College principal Prabir Das attended the cremation. Burman is survived by wife Aparna, son Amitjyoti and schoolgoing daughter Jyotirmoyee.