Ambulance hits truck in Odisha; homebound patient dies

A kidney patient returning home in West Bengal from a hospital in Odisha was killed and six others were injured when the ambulance carrying them rammed into a moving truck on Tuesday, police said.

The accident occurred at a place on National Highway 60 under Jaleswarpur police station in Odisha’s Balasore district early in the morning.

A total of seven people including the driver and the patient’s relatives were in the ambulance, police said.

Following the accident, all of them were taken to Jaleswar hospital where the patient, 55-year-old Irshad Khan, was declared dead on arrival.

Khan, a resident of Keshpur village in Paschim Medinipur district of neighbouring West Bengal, was returning home after undergoing dialysis in AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.

Of the six injured people, the condition of five was serious and they were shifted to Balasore district headquarter hospital. The driver of the ambulance was among the seriously injured people who also included relatives of the patient. Police said they are investigating the cause of the accident.