HYDERABAD: In a freak accident, a 50-year-old man died, and his wife sustained serious head injuries, when a five-decade-old tree inside the Cantonment General Hospital at Bolarum fell on them on Tuesday morning. The couple was riding towards the parking lot inside the hospital premises when the 30-feet tall Gulmohar tree fell on them, killing the rider on the spot.
Bolarum police registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC and said that they would proceed with a thorough inquiry into the matter once the family files a complaint.
According to T Ramakrishna, superintendent of the hospital, K Ravinder and his wife K Sarala Devi (50) had come to the facility for the latter's medical checkup. Expressing shock at the incident, Ramakrishna claimed that the tree was "well secured with concrete". The staff from the horticulture department found that the root had lost its stabillity as the tree got saturated due to recent bouts of heavy rain, leading to its crash, he added. While Ravinder died almost instantly, Sarala Devi suffered serious head injury and was admitted to Gandhi Hospital for treatment.
Meanwhile, the assistant medical officer of the hospital, P Satyashil, had a narrow escape. The doctor, who was driving to work in his car, was at a very short distance behind from the couple when the tree came down crashing.
When TOI caught up with Sarala Devi at Gandhi Hospital, she was still not aware of her husband's death and was in a state of complete shock. She said that a tree had shattered her life. "We were going to the hospital to enquire about an injection for my joint pains and within a few seconds our fate changed," she recounted, her voice trembling with emotion.
Her 21-year-old daughter, Sai Surabi, said they had withheld the news of her father's death from Sarala Devi as she is a heart patient.
"When my younger sister got a call from my mother's mobile, she started inquiring about the status of their hospital visit. But she went into complete shock when the caller - someone from the hospital - told her about our father," said Sai Surabi. The family is now demanding compensation and a job for the kin from the govt.
Even 30 people failed to move the treeFollowing the accident, the hospital staff had a tough time pulling out the deceased's body as the tree was too heavy. Even a group of 30 people struggled to lift it off the Ravinder.
In order to clear the area, the staff had to cut its branches and chop the tree up into smaller pieces.
It has been standing in the hospital for many years and has shown no signs of fragility. Earlier, the hospital staff had cut down a Gulmohar tree next to it when it got weak. In fact, there was no sound from the tree until it fell on the couple," said S Shekhar, the gardener.