VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Police has traced a missing oxygen tanker and brought it to Government General Hospital (GGH) here on Friday.

The Vijayawada-bound 18-tonne oxygen tanker went missing late at night on Thursday.Within minutes after the tracking system failed, police commissioner Battina Srinivasulu alerted all SPs along the way to Vijayawada from Odisha.

All police units sprang into action and traced the tanker to a dhaba in the East Godavari district’s Dharmavaram. Investigations revealed that the driver halted at the dhaba due to fatigue.

Local police assigned an experienced home guard to accompany the driver and the tanker was escorted to the destination via the ‘green channel’.Due to the proactive steps taken by the police force, the tanker reached GGH Vijayawada in time.

The relatives of the Covid patients who were on oxygen thanked the police department for its timely help.AP DGP Gautam Sawang lauded the humanitarian efforts of the AP police which saved the lives of 400 critical patients and affirmed continuation of all possible services from the police to the public in this season of serious health crisis.