KANPUR, May 15 -- A 74-year-old Kanpur resident died of a cardiac arrest on Thursday after the ambulance carrying him allegedly remained stuck for 41 minutes in three successive traffic snarls on the city's main route to the cardiology institute of GSVM Medical College - a journey that should normally take only a few minutes.

According to the family, Ramchandra Shukla, a resident of Saket Nagar Sabzi Mandi, collapsed at home around noon. His son-in-law, Anil Tripathi, placed him in a private ambulance at 12:29 pm and rushed towards the cardiology institute.

After crossing Govindpuri bridge, the ambulance encountered its first traffic jam at Fazalganj crossing, losing nearly 10 minutes. After moving past that stretch, it got caught in an...