Speeding ambulance hits truck in Odisha; 1 dead, 6 hurt

Balasore: A speeding ambulance carrying a patient hit a stationary truck from behind killing a person on the spot on NH-60 near Haladipada in Balasore district this morning. Six others were injured in the accident.

The deceased has been identified as Santilata Mitra, a relative who was accompanying the patient in the ambulance.

The incident took place at around 6.15 AM today when the ambulance carrying a heart patient, Rajesh Mitra, from Hasimpur village under Baliapal police limits was going to a hospital here. The driver of the ambulance lost control, following which the vehicle collided with a truck parked on the roadside near Haladipada. While Santilata died on the spot, six others, including the ambulance driver, the patient and his two relatives, and a pharmacist sustained critical injuries in the mishap.

The injured were rushed to the Balasore district headquarters hospital (DHH), from where ambulance driver Sashikant Mahanta was later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.