Ambulance Driver Who Ferried COVID Dead Succumbs To Virus

Representational image.

New Delhi: In a cruel irony of fate, an ambulance driver who had ferried around 200 bodies of COVID-19 victims for last rites has himself succumbed to the virus.

The 48-year-old ambulance driver, Aarif Khan, died at Hindu Rao Hospital here on Saturday.

Khan was employed with Shaheed Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, which provides free emergency services in NCR, Indian Express reported.

According to his colleagues, Khan would often pitch in with money for the last rites of a COVID-19 victim if a family was in need or help with the rituals if a deceased’s near ones were not around.

“He ensured everyone got a farewell, but his own family couldn’t give him that. They saw his body from afar for a few minutes,” said Jitender Kumar, a fellow ambulance driver.

Jitender said Khan fell sick on October 3 and underwent a COVID-19 test, which came positive. He died within a day of getting admitted to the hospital.

Khan’s family said he slept in an ambulance parking lot for over six months, staying in touch with his wife and four children on the phone.

“We only met when he came over to pick up something like clothes… I used to go to check on him sometimes. We were always worried about him. But he never bothered about COVID-19. He just wanted to do his job well,” said Aadil, the deceased’s son.