Palghar, Aug 11 (PTI) A 49-year-old woman’s visit to her former school ended in an unimaginable tragedy after she suffered severe injuries in a tree fall incident there and died on way to hospital as an ambulance ferrying her got stuck in massive traffic jam on a highway in Palghar.
She could have been saved if the ambulance had managed to reach hospital 30 minutes earlier, her devastated husband told reporters, narrating their harrowing journey of several hours through the heavy traffic and potholed-ridden road in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on July 31.
The police confirmed the death, but said they were yet to register a case in this connection.
The victim, Chhaaya Purav, had gone to her school in Saphala area for a function and was observing a huge tree being chopped in the premises.
“She was at a distance and watching like others present there, but in a cruel twist of fate, the huge tree unexpectedly fell on her, inflicting severe head and rib injuries to her,” said local resident Arun Patil.
She was initially rushed to a local hospital, but due to her critical condition, she was later referred to Hinduja Hospital in adjoining Mumbai, located about 100 km away.
Her husband, Kaushik, accompanied her in the ambulance, which departed around 3 pm. Anaesthesia was administered to the victim manage her excruciating pain.
What followed was a traumatic journey as the ambulance got ensnared in a massive traffic jam on NH-48, her family members said.
By 6 pm, the vehicle had barely reached the halfway mark. As the anaesthesia effect wore off, Purav’s suffering intensified.
“I watched her endure unbearable agony for four hours,” her heart-broken husband said, describing how the gridlock and pothole-ridden road exacerbated her pain.
“She kept pleading for help, but we were trapped as vehicles driving against the traffic made matters worse,” he said.
In a desperate attempt to save her, the ambulance driver diverted the vehicle to the Orbit Hospital located in Mira Road area in neighbouring Thane, located about 30 km away.
By the the ambulance manage to reach the hospital, Purav was pronounced dead upon arrival, Kaushik said.
His anguish was palpable as he lamented, “arriving just half-an-hour earlier could have saved her life.” Residents of the area in Mumbai where Purav resided mourned her death, with large hoardings put up to pay homage to her.
An official from Kelva police station confirmed the woman’s death, but said they were yet to register a case. PTI COR DC GK
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