An herd of elephants blocked an 108 ambulance at Thengumarahada forest area which led to the death of a new born baby on Friday.
Vasantha (32), wife of Nanjan, suffered labour pain at around 6 pm on Thursday and the ambulance was called.
When it was moving to the village from Bavanisagar, six elephants intercepted it in the forest road and driver Arunpandiyan was not able to drive the vehicle. The doctor in the ambulance, George Dinesh, informed the problem to Nanjan by cell phone and advised him to arrange another vehicle.
Then, the locals arranged a jeep to transport her. The elephants left the road after 1 hour and then the ambulance started moving on the road.
At Kallalapalayam, she was transferred to the ambulance to go to Sathy, the nearest place, where hospital facilities are available.
As labour pain was increased, she was given treatment within the vehicle itself and she delivered a male baby. But, it died within a few minutes. As her condition also became bad, the ambulance rushed her to Sathy GH where she was given treatment.
Her relatives said if the health sub-centre in the village had enough facilities, this kind of problems could have been prevented.
The Thengumarahada village, located in a thick forest area, 28 km away from Bavanisagar, is located in the Nilgiris district. The village people have to visit Sathy for their day to day needs and also for medical aid.
As there is no good road within the forest, government buses ply to the village only twice in a day.