
Maharashtra Woman Dies In Ambulance Caught In Massive NH-48 Traffic Jam: 'Screamed In Pain'
A woman died in an ambulance while on her way to a Mumbai hospital after a critical injury, as the vehicle was stuck in a massive traffic jam on National Highway-48. The woman, identified as Chhaya Purav, had suffered a critical injury in Maharashtra's Palghar district.
On July 31, Purav was injured when a tree branch fell on her near her residence in Palghar's Madhukar Nagar, suffering injuries to her ribs, shoulders and head. A local hospital referred her to the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai, which is around 100 km from Palghar, reported NDTV.
The woman was administered anaesthesia, and her husband was seated next to her as the ambulance began its journey to Mumbai at around 3 pm. However, it got stuck in a massive traffic jam on NH-48.
The journey from Palghar to Mumbai usually takes 2.5 hours. However, due to the traffic jam, the ambulance only managed to cover half of the distance in three hours. Meanwhile, the anaesthesia's effect began to weaken, and Purav began to experience excruciating pain.
'The road was full of potholes and that put her in so much pain. She was screaming in pain and crying. She begged to take her to a hospital at the earliest. But we were stuck, vehicles were driven from the wrong side, making the traffic jam worse," Purav's shocked husband, Kaushik, told NDTV.
At around 7 pm, the ambulance drove into the Orbit Hospital in Mira Road, about 30 km away from the Hinduja hospital so that Purav could get immediate attention, but it was too late at this point as doctors declared her dead.
The doctors told Kaushik that Purav could have been saved if she reached the hospital just 30 minutes earlier. 'I saw her suffering in unbearable pain for four hours," he said, highlighting the traffic crisis that has plagued Mumbai for years.
Mumbaikars on a daily basis face traffic congestion, due to poorly maintained roads, ongoing construction projects, lack of parking space and unregulated driving behaviour.
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