Manguben Makwana will never forget the night of 29 June. The 32-year-old delivered a baby in the vicinity of the Gir forest in an ambulance after midnight – but that was not all.
Even as she gave birth to a boy, a group of 12 lions emerged from the adjacent forests and surrounded the vehicle near a remote village in Amreli district. During this ordeal, which lasted for around 20 minutes, the paramedic staff of the '108' ambulance tackled the situation with courage and helped Makwana in giving birth, while the lion pride, including three males, blocked the vehicle's passage.
The incident occurred at around 2:30 am on Thursday when the ambulance was shifting Makwana, a resident of Lunasapur village, to the government hospital in Jafarabad town, said Chetan Gaadhe, Emergency Management Executive of '108' in Amreli. He added:
While the EMT contacted a physician over the phone to take directions, the pride of lions, sensing the human presence, emerged from the nearby bushes and surrounded the ambulance.
Gadhe also said, “Though Jadav, who is a local and understood the behaviour of lions, tried to scare them away, the lions refused to budge. Some of them even sat in front of the vehicle, blocking its passage.”
The mother and the child are currently admitted to Jafrabad hospital. Both are hale and hearty.
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