Ambulance catches fire

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 25

A private ambulance (Toyota Innova) parked outside the emergency ward of the Civil hospital caught fire on Wednesday night. The fire also created a panic in the hospital. Hospital staff, along with the ambulance driver, controlled the fire by pouring mud and water on the ambulance.

Kin of patients present outside the emergency ward told mediapersons that the driver was smoking beedi inside the ambulance which might be the reason behind the fire incident. There were no fire safety devices in the ambulance.

The ambulance driver, Vishal, while denying allegations that smoking caused the fire, said he had kept a mosquito coil inside the ambulance due to which the vehicle caught fire. On receiving information, officials from the Civil Hospital police post had reached the spot but by then the ambulance driver drove away.

It is learnt that private ambulances remain parked inside the Civil Hospital and police officials deployed at the hospital had asked them many times to park their vehicles outside but they had not been paying heed to the instructions.

Even an oxygen cylinder was also lying inside the ambulance and it was taken out for precautionary purpose. Had it caught fire, there would be have been a major tragedy.

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