Kasaragod: After Karnataka police allegedly denied permission to allow a 49-year-old critically ill patient ambulance to cross the border at Thalpady on the Kasaragod-Mangaluru national highway, he died on Tuesday.

According to police, Sekhar of Manjeshwar near here died of cardiac arrest.

He was being taken to Mangaluru for follow-up treatment.

Critically ill patients from Kasaragod have since long being thronging the multi-specialty and high-tech hospitals in the neighboring state as it is closer than the facilities in the neighboring districts of Kerala.

Four seriously ill patients have died since Karnataka closed the borders following the lockdown.