BHUBANESWAR: A third-year research scholar died and a first-year research scholar was injured after their two-wheeler crashed into a curb on the IIT-Bhubaneswar campus late on Monday night.
The victims were identified as Shankhasubhra Chakraborty, third-year PhD scholar, and Shakti Sagar Srivastav, first-year research scholar, from the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences.
Sources said the incident occurred at around 11.20 pm when the two were riding a scooter from their hostel towards the academic zone. The rider reportedly lost control of the vehicle and hit a curb. A nearby security patrol, alerted by the sound of the crash, rushed to the spot and found the rider lying unconscious on the road with severe injuries, while the pillion rider was conscious and was lying on the pavement, the institute sources said.
The security team immediately shifted both students to the institute’s Sanjeevan Hospital and after initial emergency treatment and CPR the doctors referred both the students to Manipal Hospital for advanced care. However, Chakraborty was declared dead upon arrival at hospital, while Srivastav is currently undergoing treatment in the Neuro ICU, where his condition is reported to be stable.
The body of the deceased has been handed over to his family in Kolkata after postmortem.
Jatni police has also launched an investigation in the matter to ascertain the circumstances that led to the accident on the campus.
An official from the Institute who termed the incident unfortunate told TNIE that they already have strict regulations in place for riders on the institute campus and that only PhD students have been allowed to ride two-wheelers, within a prescribed speed limit, on the campus considering the distance between their hostel and lab in the 936 acre campus.
“We have bus service, bicycles and e-rickshaws for transport within the campus. However, the PhD scholars have been allowed to ride scooters as their research work sometimes demands immediate visit to the lab, located about 3 km away from the hostels,” the official said.