Amaravati, Aug 3 (IANS): In a shocking incident, three COVID-19 patients were allegedly shifted to a hospital in a garbage vehicle in Andhra Pradesh's Vizianagaram district.

A video, which shows three persons boarding the trolley in Nellimarla town, has gone viral on social media, prompting the authorities to order a probe.

The incident reportedly occurred on Saturday when an ambulance did not reach to shift three members of a family to the hospital.

They had undergone COVID-19 tests on Wednesday and it was on Friday that they were found positive. Locals alerted 108 ambulance and requested that they be shifted to hospital. However, the ambulance did not reach the location, forcing the residents to arrange a trolley from Nellimarla Nagar Panchayat.

Local officials ordered a probe into the incident. Primary Health Centre medical officer Gayatri Devi said the ambulance was sent immediately after learning about the patients from volunteers but before the vehicle could reach there the local residents mobilized a trolley from the municipal body.

Nellimarla Nagar Panchayat Commissioner J. R. Appala Naidu said the vehicle was being used to carry Sodium Hypochlorite and other items for burying the COVID-19 victims.

Vizianagaram District Medical and Health Officer Dr Ramana Kumari said she had ordered a probe into the incident.

Former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said he was appalled over the treatment meted out to the patients. "Appalling! Three Covid-19 patients in BC Colony, Jarjapupeta in Vizianagaram Dist were taken to the hospital in a garbage vehicle'," the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief tweeted.

"Don't know about coronavirus, but the helpless patients might contract other dangerous diseases. Why are they not being treated like humans?," Naidu asked.