Speeding Ambulance: Rescued Driver Succumbs to Injuries as Vehicle Catches Fire

Hyderabad: A speeding ambulance caught fire after it rammed into a median at BN Reddynagar early on Tuesday, Vanasthalipuram police said. The driver, Chinnam Mahesh, 50, was rescued from the burning vehicle but succumbed to his injuries, police said.

The vehicle overturned under the impact of the crash. The oxygen from the cylinders caught fire and exploded. The explosion was so violent that it tore the clothes of one of the policemen who had rushed to the accident site.

Police said Mahesh, hailing from Nalgonda district, has been working as a driver for the ambulance owned by one Ratnakar. On Monday night, Mahesh dropped a patient at Ibrahimpatnam and was returning to LB Nagar. The accident occurred at about 4 am, when Mahesh apparently lost control of the vehicle and rammed into the median.

The accident occurred near where assistant sub-inspector M Shankaraiah and his team who were on night patrol. The police team rushed to the ambulance, pulled out Mahesh from the vehicle and administered first aid.

Upon noticing sparks, they used a fire extinguisher to put it out. They called another ambulance and were in the process of shifting Mahesh to it when the explosion took place. Police said cylinders were thrown out of the vehicle and landed about 300 metres away. “Had this happened during the day, the destruction could be beyond imagination,” they said.

The staff in the second ambulance, who had arrived at the spot, meanwhile declared Mahesh dead. A fire tender also called to the spot which put off the fire.

Mahesh is survived by his wife and three children including a married daughter. On a complaint from his brother Chinnam Babu, police have registered a case and started investigations, said Vanasthalipuram station house officer D. Jalender Reddy.