All seven people on board, including Rai, two members of his family, two pilots, a technician and a doctor, survived with minor injuries.
One man's urgent journey to get treatment after suffering a brain stroke turned out to be more dangerous when his air ambulance made an emergency landing on the outskirts of New Delhi.
The ambulance, ferrying Virender Rai, a resident of Patna, and his family to New Delhi, to be treated at Medanta, the Medicity hospital in Gurgaon, reportedly faced engine failure and made an emergency landing in an open field in Khair village, Najafgarh, New Delhi, on Tuesday afternoon.
All seven people on board, including Rai, two members of his family, two pilots, a technician and a doctor, survived with minor injuries.
The Beechking C-90 aircraft, 27 years old, was part of the Alchemist pharma group's air-ambulance service. Rai, a patient in his early 40s, was admitted to Medanta around 4pm, carted there by the hospital's own team at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, as part of the airport authorities' emergency response.
A relative, Bhagwan Rai, 60, was admitted to Rao Tula Ram Hospital with "abrasions and bruises", according to hospital officials. Officials at Medanta, however, told dna that the family was trying to shift Bhagwan too there.
The family, visibly shocked by the ordeal, declined to talk to media.
Rai was shifted from Jagdish Memorial hospital, Patna.
A spokesperson from Medanta told dna that the patient had suffered a brain stroke two days ago, when his family contacted the hospital to enquire about air- ambulance rates. However, they went with a private arrangement, which some Medanta officials say, they got for a lesser rate.
They did not, however, tell dna the exact cost of the air ambulance or that of the plane chartered by the family.
The air ambulance in the crash was not part of Medanta's service, nor was the accompanying doctor part of the hospital.
The Medanta spokesperson said that the patient was admitted under the neurology team and was in the ICU, undergoing CAT scans, MRI and other tests needed for investigation. They did not talk about the repercussions of the brain stroke or the extent of his treatment.
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