While Cong, BJP fight, boy dies in ambulance

GET THROUGH THAT: The scene near the Vidhan Sabha in Shimla on Wednesday after the clash.

J & K | Chhattisgarh | Delhi | MP |
Mizoram | Rajasthan

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

Featured Slideshows

New Delhi/ Shimla: A four-year-old boy died on Wednesday in Shimla after his ambulance got caught in a traffic jam caused by clashing Congress and BJP workers.

The boy, Tinkoo, could not reach the hospital in time and died on the way.

Tinkoo had high fever and was being taken to the district hospital in Shimla when the ambulance carrying him got caught in a traffic jam caused by BJP and Congress workers outside the Vidhan Sabha.

The two parties were trying to hold rallies at the same spot outside the Vidhan Sabha on the last day of the Monsoon Session.

Police had to cane the protestors, injuring atleast 30. "We had to resort to reasonable force to disperse the BJP members as they were forcibly trying to enter the venue of Congress rally. Six Policemen were injured," senior police officer A P Singh said.

Caught in all this melee was little Tinkoo, who had been brought all the way from Sarka Ghat in neighbouring Mandi district.

They reached Shimla, but just a small distance away from the Indira Gandhi Medical College, the ambulance was stopped by police.

In a desperate move, the child's mother got down from ambulance and carried him to another hospital nearby. However, the child died on the way.

At the district hospital, a doctor said they could have saved Tinkoo had he been brought earlier. “When the boy was brought to the hospital, he was brain dead. Had he made it to the hospital 15 minutes earlier, we might have saved him,” said Dr Avinash.

Meanwhile, both parties are trading accusations. Former chief minister Shanta Kumar alleged Congress workers attacked him. His party leaders also claimed that Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his cabinet colleagues were in the Assembly balcony during the lathicharge and asked the Congress workers not to leave the venue even after the rally was over.