A 50-year-old bus driver collapsed while on duty in Kalyan (East) and died before reaching the hospital, allegedly due to congested roads. Vasant Shingote was a bus driver with Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Transport (KDMT). At the time of going to press, the police were registering a case of accidental death. Shingote was driving a bus that made a stop at Chinchpada-Ganpathi chowk at 7.30pm.

There were only a few passengers on board. Suddenly, the bus stopped in the middle of the road. Shingote tried restarting it, but the bus wouldn’t respond. He called his seniors to inform them of the failure. Eyewitnesses say Shingote collapsed soon after making the call. At the time, he was inside the bus.

“He called and informed about the bus failure and collapsed,” said Nilesh Shinde, a Shiv Sena corporator who was coincidentally in the same area. “I was nearby the spot where the bus failed and I rushed to the spot. The entire stretch is narrow and was jammed with vehicles, with no space to move.”

Shinde said locals pulled Shingote out and rushed him to a nearby hospital at Vijay Nagar in an auto-rickshaw. However, he couldn’t be admitted there and was taken to Metro Hospital at Chakki Naka, which is two kilometres away and took approximately 30 minutes to reach. Senior traffic police inspector Kalyan (East) traffic unit, S Shirsat said, “There was no heavy congestion reported on the stretch.”

“The auto was stuck as it couldn’t make way to the hospital due to the congestion,” alleged Shinde. KDMT chairman Subhash Mhaske, who had also rushed to the spot, denied there was any congestion on the route to the hospital. “We managed to reach the hospital in 10 minutes,” said Mhaske.

According to Metro Hospital, Shingote was already dead when he was brought to the hospital. Dr. Pravin Bujbal of Metro Hospital said, “We suspect that the cause of death is cardiac arrest.” A post mortem has been ordered and Kolsewadi police was registering an accidental death report at the time of going to press. Senior police inspector S Salve said the police would wait for the post mortem report. “Once the report comes will add necessary sections in the case if required. We have visited the spot and also spoken to the passengers,” Salve said.

First Published: Jan 18, 2019 12:34 IST