Ambulance patient dies in collision at petrol station

KUCHING: An elderly male patient being transported to Serian Hospital in an ambulance was killed when the emergency vehicle was involved in an accident at a petrol station at Mile 18 along the Kuching- Serian Road, near here on Monday morning.

The accident is said to have happened when the ambulance stopped at the petrol station to refuel.

Sarawak Traffic Enforcement and Investigation Department head Supt Alexson Naga Chabu in a press statement yesterday said the patient, Lai Kim, 66, was previously receiving treatment at Siburan Health Clinic but was later referred to Serian Hospital for further treatment around 9.30am.

“A lorry which was entering the refuelling spot at the station collided with the ambulance which was waiting to refuel. The ambulance doors were damaged in the accident.

“The elderly patient in the ambulance was later pronounced dead while waiting for another ambulance to transport him to Serian Hospital,” he said.

Alexson added that both lorry and ambulance drivers and others in the emergency vehicle did not suffer any injuries in the collision. The body of the victim was later sent to Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).

Monday’s accident is the second to involve an ambulance in as many months, following the one which occurred on Feb 26.

In that incident, an ambulance was transporting a pregnant patient to SGH when it was broadsided by a sports utility vehicle at a traffic light intersection along Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce here, and flipped onto its side.

Only minor injuries were reported in the crash, with the expectant mother going on to deliver a healthy baby boy the following morning.