KARACHI, March 31: A student of the University of Karachi died of an appendix rupture reportedly after being stranded in a traffic jam due to VIP movement in the city on Wednesday evening, on account of the ongoing Expo exhibition.

However, her family refrained from disclosing the circumstances in which Zill-i-Huma, 23, a student of the KU’s Mass Communication Department died, apparently due to some kind of pressure from authorities.

According to reports, Huma, resident of Cantt Bazar off Karsaz Road, complained of stomach pain. She was taken to the nearby hospital, which referred her to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

Subsequently, the family tried to rush to the JPMC in a cab, but was caught in a traffic jam caused by VIP movement on Wednesday evening.

Finally, when Zill-i-Huma reached the JPMC, the doctors at the Department of Accidents and Emergency consoled the family, saying that had she been brought a little earlier, her life could have been saved by surgery.

This was perhaps the fifth or sixth such reported incident, but the first case of appendix rupture, to have taken place on the Sharea Faisal due to VIP movement. Most of the deaths that occurred under such circumstances in the past were due to cardiac arrests.

On January 6, two heart patients were pronounced dead at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases. Their lives could have been saved had they not been stranded in the traffic jam, doctors had said.

On January 7, more deaths were reported at the NICVD due to similar circumstances.

A foreign participant of the recently concluded World Social Forum talking to Dawn had asked as to why didn’t the President and Prime Minister use helicopters instead of causing hardships for the common people.