Ambulance Driver Allegedly Falls Asleep, Crash Kills Pregnant Woman's Unborn Child

An ambulance taking an eight-month-pregnant woman to a hospital in Mumbai, India, crashed on the Eastern Express Highway on Monday, killing the unborn child.

The incident occurred around 7 a.m. local time (9:30 p.m. EDT, Sunday) in Thane, Mumbai, when the ambulance made a hard turn and hit one of the dividers on the road.

The ambulance driver allegedly fell asleep during the drive, injuring all the six occupants inside the vehicle – a pregnant Tanika Ahmed, 40, her 45-year-old husband Mushtaq, her 60-year-old mother Khalda Rashid, 30-year-old brother Aqeel Rashid, and 18-year-old nephew Mohammed Shadad. The driver denied the accusations.

“We suspect that as the driver must not have slept all night and fell asleep while driving. We have registered a case against Shakur for rash driving, endangering a person’s life and under the Motor Vehicles Act,” a police officer told the Times of India.

People in the area rushed to help rescue the victims from the heavily damaged vehicle. The part of ambulance on the side of the driver was heavily dented. Tanika was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar from where she was transported to a specialty hospital in Sion, Mumbai, when the doctors at Rajawadi failed to find a fetal pulse.

"The woman was unconscious and gasping for breath. Since she would have needed multi-specialities, we referred her to Sion hospital,” Medical superintendent Dr. Vidya Thakur said.

Even after establishing the fact there was no way to bring the baby back to life again, doctors at the second hospital decided to leave the dead fetus inside Tanika, due to her critical condition.

“The baby couldn’t be saved. The mother’s condition is critical too. We can take a decision on what to do with the foetus only if her condition improves," a doctor said.

Elaborating further on the case, the Professor of gynecology Dr. Arun Naik said a fetus, dead or alive, can be kept inside the mother’s womb till no complications arise.

“In such cases usually, blood tests are carried out to see if the dead fetus is causing any toxicity. Only then a labor may be induced but since the patient is already on a ventilator, it could cause additional stress. As it is, once the fetus dies, the hormonal changes begin in the body, which itself can send her into spontaneous labor,” he said.

However, Tanika’s pregnancy was not free of complications. While she was initially admitted at Malegaon Hospital, which was nearer to the place she lived, doctors there advised her to be taken to the JJ Hospital, which was 270 kilometers (167 miles) away from her home after she had difficulty breathing on Thursday.

“Tankila was diagnosed with a heart condition a few months ago through an angiography. Given her age and the heart condition, the doctors suggested that we should go to a super speciality hospital for the delivery,” Khalda said.

Her family was accompanying Tanika to the JJ hospital when the incident occurred.