Class 8 student collapses outside school, dies before reaching hosp

NOIDA: A Class 8 student died after collapsing just outside his school while leaving for home on Thursday afternoon.
Police said the school authorities initially suspected a heat stroke, adding that the cause of death could only be ascertained after the autopsy report was ready.
Temperatures have been hovering around 40 degrees Celsius over the past few days, with high relative humidity levels (30% on Tuesday) — a combination that makes the weather seem hotter than it is, in a calculation called heat index.
Around 2pm on Tuesday, 15-year-old Rohit was leaving the school premises with his younger brother — a Class 7 student — when he collapsed outside the gate.
“A teacher brought him inside the school and tried to give him water as we thought he had suffered a heat stroke. When the child did not respond, we took him to Yatharth Hospital in the city and informed his parents and administrative officials,” said Nutan Saxena, the principal of Junior High Government School in Jalpura, Greater Noida.
Dr Sunil Balyan, medical superintendent at the hospital, said the child had died by the time he was wheeled into the emergency ward. “No further examination was carried out. The body was handed back to police,” he said.
A police officer told TOI the boy’s viscera samples were preserved for the autopsy. “We handed over the body to the boy’s family, who are residents of Jalpura. The exact cause of death can be ascertained after the autopsy report is concluded,” the officer said.
The family, police said, has gone to their hometown in UP’s Rampur for the child’s last rites. They have not filed any complaint yet.
Basic education officer Aishwarya Lakshmi said they had not initiated any internal inquiry as the boy died outside the school premises. “We are in touch with the school as well as the boy’s parents,” she added.