Infant ‘dies in locked ambulance’

RAIPUR: A two-month-old infant allegedly died of suffocation in Raipur on Tuesday after the door of the ambulance, which was carrying him to a hospital, did not open due to a malfunction, the infant’s parents said.

The infant’s parents, who hail from Bihar, had brought him to the Chattisgarh capital for a cardiac surgery. On reaching Raipur, they contacted Sanjivani Express, a free ambulance service to ferry the kid to the Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hospital, infant’s father Ambika Kumar said.

However, according to the baby’s parents, when they reached the hospital the door of the ambulance got jammed and remained locked for more than 30 minutes. Kumar, who was inside the vehicle with the infant, said he tried to break the vehicle’s window but was warned against damaging government property.

“I was urging them to the break the door or a window since my kid had cardiac problem but my efforts went in vain,” he said.

However, GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), which runs the ambulance service in Chattisgarh, denied the couple’s allegation. “The infant was already dead before reaching the hospital. When the ambulance reached Ambedkar hospital, its door got stuck for a few minutes. The technicians then took the baby out of the vehicle through a window,” Shibu Kumar, government of relation officer of GVK EMRI, said.

The infant’s autopsy report was awaited at the time of filing this report.