Youth suffers cardiac arrest aboard train, dies on way to hospital

Kolkata: A man suffered cardiac arrest on a train while returning from Bengaluru. He died while he was being taken to a government hospital near Kharagpur railway station on Saturday. Sunil Sarkar, who was travelling with his relatives, fell ill after boarding the Sri Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam Howrah SF Express. His health deteriorated when the train reached Kharagpur railway station.

According to a railway official, Sunil's relatives H Sarkar and Sapna Sarkar contacted the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and urged for medical assistance after getting down at Kharagpur railway station. An ambulance was soon arranged for Sunil and he was rushed to a nearby railway hospital.

"Sunil (26), along with two of his relatives, had boarded the train from Sathya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam railway station. They had booked the ticket till Howrah railway station. His health deteriorated after reaching Kharagpur, following which he was brought to the hospital in an ambulance arranged by the RPF officials. He died at the time of getting admitted to the hospital," said the official.

However, Sunil's relatives claimed negligence on RPF's end. They alleged that the ambulance had reached the Kharagpur railway station very late. This apart, it took more than an hour for the ambulance to reach the railway hospital situated two kilometres away from Kharagpur station.

The 24-hour Ambulance Service is a free-of-cost facility provided to people in need of medical aid and quick transport to nearby health-centres at the railway station. This apart, medical train escort is also provided in the reputed trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express.