Balasore, May 7: A mob has damaged an ambulance of the Centre-funded 108 service and manhandled three staff members on the vehicle following the death of a 35-year-old woman.

The deceased's family alleged that the cylinder provided in the vehicle did not have oxygen that led to the woman's death last night.

Primary school teacher Sasmita Behera of Tentulia village in Nilgiri block had been admitted to district headquarters hospital on Tuesday evening following acute stomach ache. Last evening, doctors referred her to SCB hospital in Cuttack.

On the way, she died barely 3km from the headquarters hospital near Kuruda. Soon after, local villagers and relatives of the deceased blocked the road connecting Balasore and Cuttack via Kuruda. They damaged the ambulance and manhandled the driver and pharmacist on the vehicle. Traffic on the road had been disrupted for several hours.

The situation was brought under control only after senior district administration officials and the police had reached the spot and assured the demonstrators of probe into their allegation. The body was taken to Nilgiri and an autopsy was carried out the same night before handing it over to the victim's relatives.

"The body was cremated last night," said Nilgiri sub-divisional police officer S.R. Mahapatra.

A relative of the deceased, Ratikanta Behera, said in the FIR that the patient died due to lack of oxygen in the cylinder.

An NGO manages the 108 service, for which, the Centre provides funds. Nagendra Panda, the cluster head of 108 and 102 ambulances of the district, said: "The cylinder had adequate oxygen before leaving Balasore, but the regulator developed some snag."

"On receiving a complaint from the pharmacist in the ambulance, I had asked for another ambulance to ferry the patient. But, the patient died before the other ambulance could reach the spot," he said.

Inspector in charge of Sadar police station Chandan Ghodai said: "Based on the compliant, a case under Section 304(A) (act of negligence) has been registered against the ambulance staff. On the basis of a complaint by the cluster head of the ambulance service, a case has been registered for damaging the ambulance and manhandling its staff members."