Samaritans raised around Rs 10,000 for a poverty-stricken tribal couple from Fatepura in Dahod district of Gujarat to help them carry their dead son home.
The hapless couple were left stranded at a bus station here with no money.
Soma Sanglala's son Suresh, who 10 years old, had suffered paralysis attacks and was being treated at the civil hospital in Rajkot for the past several days.
Soma, who worked as a farm labourer in neighbouring Junagadh district, decided to leave the hospital along with his wife and their ailing son after running out of money.
They left the hospital along with Suresh and reached city's central bus depot in the afternoon yesterday, Rajkot Central Bus Depot manager Nishant Vermora said.
"They were confused and distracted unsure about what to do with their ailing son as they had no money. They asked some passengers for help with money to purchase tickets. When we knew about this, we called 108 ambulance. The medical staff of the ambulance declared Suresh dead," Vermora said.
The couple said they had no money to purchase even a bus tickets, let alone hire an ambulance to carry their dead son home which is nearly 400 kilometres from here, the manager claimed.
"The bus depot staff and passengers then decided to raise fund for them so that they could carry their dead son home," he said.
In a matter of just a few hours, around Rs 10,000 was raised so that the couple could hire an ambulance to carry the dead boy home and perform last rites, he added.
'A' Division Police Station ASI Suresh Makawana said, "We got a call from the city control room. The boy was already declared dead by the medical staff of the 108 ambulance service. So, we sent the body for post-mortem and carry out other formalities.
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