MUMBAI – A 32-year-old man died after he got sucked into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at a hospital in Mumbai on Saturday night (Jan 27).
MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, machines are equipped with magnets so powerful that metallic objects like paper clips can turn into lethal projectiles if kept close by.
The man, identified as Rajesh Maru, was carrying an oxygen cylinder as he accompanied his elderly relative into the MRI room at BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, reported the Indian media.
Maru’s brother-in-law, Harish Solanki, said a ward boy told them it was fine to bring in the cylinder. However, objects containing metals are not allowed inside the MRI room as they could be pulled by the machine’s powerful magnet.
“When we told him that metallic things aren’t allowed inside an MRI room, he said “sab chalta hai, hamara roz ka kaam hai” (it’s fine, we do it every day). He also said that the machine was switched off. The doctor, as well as the technician, didn’t say anything,” Solanki said.
Eyewitnesses said Maru was pulled into the machine with great force.
“As soon as Rajesh entered with the cylinder, it turned out that the machine was on. He was sucked in and his hand got stuck there. His body swelled up and he couldn’t speak. It’s because of their carelessness that Rajesh died,” Solanki was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Maru was reportedly bleeding heavily when he was pulled away. He was rushed to the emergency ward where he died within 10 minutes.
An autopsy said the 32-year-old Rajesh Maruti Maru inhaled poisonous amounts of liquid oxygen that leaked during frantic moments to pull him to safety after his hand was crushed between the cylinder and the machine that should not have been switched on at the time.
The hospital’s dean, Dr Ramesh Bharmal, said they are conducting an inquiry into the incident.
