A passenger lost his right arm after it was sandwiched between two speeding buses trying to overtake each other in the capital's Banglamotor yesterday.

Rajib Hossain, 22, a third-year student of Government Titumir College, is undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of Samorita Hospital, said Officer-in-Charge Abul Hasan of Shahbagh Police Station.

The officer told The Daily Star that Rajib was going to his college in Mohakhali in a double-decker bus of BRTC from Shahbagh. As the bus was overcrowded, he stood at the rear gate with his right hand dangling outside.

When the bus reached near Banglamotor around 1:15pm, another bus of Sajan Paribahan tried to overtake it. At one point the buses scraped together and Rajib's right hand, sandwiched between the buses, got severed from the elbow, the OC said quoting witnesses.

He added that police seized both the buses and detained the BRTC bus driver. “We could not arrest the driver of Sajan Paribahan as he managed to flee after the accident.”

Jahidul Islam, an uncle of Rajib, said he used to live in the capital's Mir Hazirbagh of Jatrabari and was the eldest among his three brothers.

Rajib, who lost his parents around eight years ago, bore his educational expenses by working at a computer shop in the capital's Dholaipar, added Jahidul.