In a tragic incident, a 66-year-old man was killed after sparks flew out of a possibly faulty oxygen cylinder in Kerala’s Alappuzha on Wednesday evening. The ambulance caught fire due to a spark that rose from an oxygen cylinder kept inside the ambulance.   

According to reports, the ambulance was ferrying a patient, Mohanan Nair, from Government Hospital, Champakulam in Alappuzha district to a private hospital.   

The patient had developed breathing problems and was referred to a private hospital by the doctors in the Champakulam hospital. His relatives called for an ambulance through the medical helpline 108.

While Mohanan was being transported by the ambulance to the hospital, the nurse who was accompanying him, tried to connect him to an oxygen cylinder. However, sparks flew out of the oxygen cylinder and fell on them, causing injuries to both. The ambulance driver managed to escape unhurt. 

Mohanan Nair, who received severe burn injuries, was immediately brought out of the ambulance and rushed to another private hospital in another vehicle. However, on the way to the hospital, he succumbed to his injuries.   

Just 15 minutes after the three people travelling in the vehicle were brought out, the ambulance burst into flames. Vehicles around the ambulance – four motorcycles, a car, an auto rickshaw – were gutted in the fire. A shop was also burnt down by the flames from the ambulance. Luckily, nobody was injured in this incident.   

The nurse, who sustained burn injuries in the incident, was taken to Government Medical College Hospital in Alappuzha and is undergoing treatment. The police have launched a probe into the incident to find out what caused sparks to fly from the cylinder.   

In 2016, an ambulance had exploded in Muvattupuzha while ferrying patients to a hospital. Two people were killed and two others were seriously injured in that incident.