PHUKET - A taxi driver in this southern island province has been charged with blocking an ambulance that was rushing a heart attack patient to hospital who died on the way.
The incident happened on Sunday morning after Pradit Dumlak, 77, passed out in a durian orchard in Kamala community in Kathu district.
Relatives of the man, who had a heart condition, called an ambulance from Patong Hospital at 8.15am. It was reported that the ambulance was blocked by a limousine taxi on the narrow Kamala-Patong Road on its way to the hospital.
Eyewitnesses said the taxi driver did not make way and tried to cut in on the ambulance to avoid a parked vehicle. At that time, paramedics were trying to resuscitate the elderly man. Paramedics pronounced his death at 8.45am Sunday.
Local police checked camera footage and called the taxi driver for interrogation. Police then charged the driver with blocking an emergency vehicle and violating a patient’s rights.