Rajkot: It’s a strange dilemma when you are caught between lions and a person’s life. Ask these 108 emergency services ambulance staffers carrying an injured person in an accident in Amreli on Sunday and being blocked by pride of Asiatic lions on the state highway. It was indeed an intense battle of wits between man vs wild as law prohibits honking at the lions, while life, literally, was slipping away in front of their eyes.
The incident took place on Saturday night when 40-year-old Prakash Bariya’s bike rammed into a Nilgai near Vanda village of Savarkundla and he received serious head injury. He was being taken to Amreli Civil Hopsital from Savarkundla to Amreli, when a pride of lions blocked the road of the ambulance which was speeding to save a life.
The ambulance staff slowed down the vehicle, while they simultaneously started treating him inside the van to save precious time.
Meanwhile, three lions came on the state highway and decided to jay walk in the middle of the road. Now, according to Wildlife Act rules, vehicles have to stop till the time the lions vacate the roads by themselves. This, then proved to be truly critical for the ambulance staff, who knew that every minute counted for the injured person.
Emergency medical technician, Jagdish Solanki said, “The lions came on the road when we reached near Gokharvara hotel. They started walking on the road ahead of the vehicle for about a three kilometre stretch. We had no option but to slow down our pace till we turned towards Amreli city by crossing Shetrunji river. We had to respect pride and obey the rules too.”
Seeing the extraordinary situation, the emergency staff started treatment of the patient under instructions of doctors over the phone. Programme manager of GVK Bhavnagar, Chetan Gadhe said, “We also provide training to the staff to protect lions because our ambulances operate in the greater Gir area having a significant population of lions.”
This episode was a reminder of the the night of June 29, 2017 when a woman from Lunasapur village en route to the government hospital in Jafarabad town had to deliver her baby inside the 108 ambulance at midnight after a pride of a pride of 12 lions emerged from the adjacent forests and surrounded the vehicle near Amreli district. It took emergency vehicle staffers 25-odd minutes to deliver the baby under lions’ supervision inside the jungle.
The incident took place on Saturday night when 40-year-old Prakash Bariya’s bike rammed into a Nilgai near Vanda village of Savarkundla and he received serious head injury. He was being taken to Amreli Civil Hopsital from Savarkundla to Amreli, when a pride of lions blocked the road of the ambulance which was speeding to save a life.
The ambulance staff slowed down the vehicle, while they simultaneously started treating him inside the van to save precious time.
Meanwhile, three lions came on the state highway and decided to jay walk in the middle of the road. Now, according to Wildlife Act rules, vehicles have to stop till the time the lions vacate the roads by themselves. This, then proved to be truly critical for the ambulance staff, who knew that every minute counted for the injured person.
Emergency medical technician, Jagdish Solanki said, “The lions came on the road when we reached near Gokharvara hotel. They started walking on the road ahead of the vehicle for about a three kilometre stretch. We had no option but to slow down our pace till we turned towards Amreli city by crossing Shetrunji river. We had to respect pride and obey the rules too.”
Seeing the extraordinary situation, the emergency staff started treatment of the patient under instructions of doctors over the phone. Programme manager of GVK Bhavnagar, Chetan Gadhe said, “We also provide training to the staff to protect lions because our ambulances operate in the greater Gir area having a significant population of lions.”
This episode was a reminder of the the night of June 29, 2017 when a woman from Lunasapur village en route to the government hospital in Jafarabad town had to deliver her baby inside the 108 ambulance at midnight after a pride of a pride of 12 lions emerged from the adjacent forests and surrounded the vehicle near Amreli district. It took emergency vehicle staffers 25-odd minutes to deliver the baby under lions’ supervision inside the jungle.
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