A heart patient died inside an ambulance after the vehicle became trapped in a nearly 40-kilometre-long traffic jam on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway.

The deceased, identified as Amirunnesa, died in the Daudkandi area at around 3:30am on Friday night after the ambulance remained stuck in traffic for nearly four hours, her relative Tarek Al Hasan, who was travelling with her, confirmed.

Amirunnesa was a resident of Pranbhagabatipur village in Chandraganj upazila of Lakshmipur.

Tarek said Amirunnesa suffered a heart attack on Friday, following which they left for Dhaka by ambulance at around 8pm for treatment. The ambulance reached Daudkandi at around 11pm but became trapped in severe traffic congestion.

The vehicle remained almost stationary for nearly four hours before Amirunnesa died inside the ambulance at around 3:30am.

Daudkandi Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Prem Das Ray said they had no information about the patient’s death in the ambulance amid the traffic jam.

“We learnt about the incident through journalists. We are trying to find out the details,” he said.

Meanwhile, a severe traffic jam stretching nearly 50 kilometres from Ashariarchar in Sonargaon, Narayanganj, to Elliotganj in Daudkandi, Cumilla, continued until noon on Saturday.

The congestion began after road repair work started on the Dhaka-bound lane at Ashariarchar around 8am on Friday.

Mohammad Shamim, inspector and in-charge of the Bhoberchar Highway Police Outpost, said the traffic jam was caused by the repair work on the Dhaka-bound lane at Ashariarchar.

“The traffic jam is still there. Highway police are working to reduce the suffering of passengers and drivers,” he said.