Class 3 girl collapses in school lobby, dies of suspected cardiac arrest in Ahmedabad

Police have sent the girl’s body for postmortem and initiated an investigation. (Representational image)

A Class 3 girl passed away of a suspected cardiac arrest after she collapsed in the lobby at her school in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on Friday.

The incident occurred in Zebar School for Children located in Thaltej area on Friday morning, following which the police launched a probe to know the exact reason behind her death.

“The eight-year-old girl, Gargi Ranpara, fell unconscious soon after she sat on a chair in the lobby while going towards her classroom in the morning,” principal of the school, Sharmishtha Sinha, said, News18 reported.

In the CCTV video, shared by the school management, the girl can be seen walking in the lobby and going towards her classroom. But on her way, she sits on a chair in the lobby due to uneasiness. She can later be seen sliding from the chair after getting unconscious in the presence of teachers and other students there.

“Gargi was normal when she arrived at the school in the morning. When she was going towards her classroom on the first floor, she sat on a chair in the corridor but suddenly fell unconscious. Since she was experiencing difficulty in breathing, our teachers gave her CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and called an ambulance,” Sinha said, according to a News18 report.

But considering the girl’s serious health condition, the staff decided to take her to a nearby private hospital in their own vehicle, she said. “Doctors there told us that Gargi had suffered a cardiac arrest. They tried to revive her and also kept her on a ventilator support, but she could not survive,” she added.

Upon receiving the information from the hospital, local police rushed to the spot and launched a probe.

The police have sent the girl’s body for postmortem and initiated an investigation. Preliminary findings suggest cardiac arrest as the cause of death.

The girl's parents lived in Mumbai, and she stayed with her grandparents in Ahmedabad, India Today reported.

In a similar incident earlier this week, an eight-year-old student from Chamarajanagar, located 160 km from Bengaluru, Karnataka, collapsed and died of cardiac arrest.