Gopinath Mundes fateful accident... Dr Adarsh Kumar, who was part of the panel of forensic experts that conducted the autopsy on the minister, explained that fracture to the first and second cervical vertebrae caused damage to the brain stem, which in turn caused him to go into cardiac arrest. Had Gopinath Munde worn a seat belt while sitting in the back seat of the car that was taking him to the airport last morning, he could well have averted the injuries that claimed his life, said forensic surgeon Dr Adarsh Kumar, who was part of the panel of experts who conducted the autopsy on Mr Mundes remains at AIIMS, Delhi yesterday. The SX4 that Mr Munde was being driven in, was hit by a Tata Indica at the Prithiviraj Tughlaq Road intersection. A forensics team at AIIMS, headed by Dr Sunil Gupta, professor and head of the forensic medicine and toxicology, conducted the autopsy, which lasted for over 2 hours. Mundeji showed no sign of respiration when he was brought to the hospital trauma ward at 6.30 am. Dr Kumar added, On physical examination of the body, we found some external injuries, including abrasions and contusions, on the face. The impact of the collision was so forceful from the left side that the ministers liver ruptured completely, with nearly 1.5 litres of blood being collected from his abdominal cavity.The fracture to the first and second cervical vertebrae caused damage to the brain stem - which is the centre for functions like respiration and heart rate - and caused Mr Munde to go into cardiac arrest. Had the minister worn a seat belt, the injury would have been minimal, and at least the vital organs could have been protected from major damage. I few years ago, I had a similar accident, while driving to Gurgaon for an appointment at 10 am, in the flow of heavy, but fast paced traffic. I was sitting in a Corolla at the LH side on the back seat. To my immediate left was an Audi and the one in the next lane was a fully loaded Bolero being used as a cab. I suddenly felt that the Bolero driver realized that he had to turn right, to go towards the Airport,and he chose to suddenly veer towards the right. He missed the Audi, since it probably inadvertently sped at that precise moment. Since the Bolero careened and veered into our car at a slant, at about 100 KMPH, it rammed into my back door and almost dragged our car for a good 200 meters- my driver was sharp enough to avoid the median and pulled the steering to the right. The Bolero first stopped,and then seeing the severity of damage to our vehicle, sped away. Since the left door was jammed, I could come out only from the right side. Many cars following us had stopped,and all the people were talking about my luck in escaping fatality in such a severe accident. I later checked on the strength of the door which surely had saved me. I was told that Toyota had a reinforcement rod, which costs Rs 24000/on each door, which acts as a buffer between the outside and inside of the doors.In my case,when my door was cut open, this rod had bent after taking all the impact of Boleros bulldozing into it. And, the mechanic, tongue-in-cheek chuckled- Sir, thank your stars today. Any lesser car, without such a reinforcement rod, would have seen you saying bye bye to this world.Sadly, Mundeji may not have had such a rod in his SX 4. As users, we ourselves hardly know the difference, but in matters of life and death, such things really do matter. As indeed, respect for traffic rules, and for safety of others using the road.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 09:18:53 +0000
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