Overview
- Relatives and videos online show a private ambulance stalled on the Kathajodi bridge during a hospital transfer, with 27-year-old Prakash Kumar Tandi dying before help arrived.
- Family members say he was on oxygen during the move from SCB Medical College in Cuttack to a private facility near Bhubaneswar and that the cylinder ran empty as they waited for another vehicle.
- The family reports another ambulance reached the bridge about 30 minutes later, by which time the patient had died.
- Fuel lines have grown across Bhubaneswar and Cuttack as officials insist supplies are sufficient for at least 13 days, with the state minister adding that demand jumped after people misread a national call to cut fuel use.
- In response to transport strains, the state transport commissioner met bus and truck operators and moved to reserve specific fuel pumps for public transport, while opposition parties blamed the government for administrative failure.