By Quaid Najmi

Pune, May 16 (IANS): In a shocker, a 54-year old man in Maharashtra died in a chair on a Pune road awaiting an ambulance during the lockdown early on Saturday, officials and family members said. The victim's distraught wife, sister and other relatives sat around him in a circle, maintaining physical distance, as local social activists and volunteers attempted to console them.

The incident occurred around 4 a.m. when the victim, Yesudas M. Francis, had already spent nearly three hours in that chair, hoping for an ambulance to come and rush him to a hospital. A local volunteer said that owing to the lockdown and containment in the area, roads have been barricaded or strewn with stones to stop vehicular movement.

An official of Samarth Police Station told IANS that the incident had happened and details were awaited from the hospital soon.

Around 1 a.m., Francis suffered severe uneasiness and the family called for an ambulance and also sought police help.

Later, they shifted him on a chair out of their home near Manusha Mosque in Nana Peth area of Pune, the country's second worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

For nearly three hours, the family kept calling ambulance numbers but none came, while a police patrol reportedly reached but could not help much as no ambulances were available.

Around 4 a.m., seated on a plastic chair, Francis breathed his last, surrounded by his helpless family.

Sometime after his death, a tempo was available and Francis' body was taken to a government hospital where he was pronounced dead on admission.

Videos and photos of the family which went viral on social media evoked strong reactions among the citizens of Pune and elsewhere.