Third Dallas-Area Postal Worker Dies on Route in Three Years, OSHA Now Investigating

Umeshkumar Thakkar died the way Eugene Gates Jr. died three years earlier: alone in a mail truck, in triple-digit Texas heat, with no air conditioning.

Thakkar, 58, was delivering mail in Little Elm on Monday when his USPS vehicle came to a stop near Thornhill Lane and Graystone Drive around 12:20 p.m., hazard lights on, according to surveillance footage cited by Fox 4. Neighbor Manny Ortiz told the station he came home from the gym to find emergency crews on his lawn. "They said the postman passed out," Ortiz said. "They shouldn't be working in this heat."

A 911 call came in around 2 p.m., roughly 100 minutes after the truck first stopped, according to reporting from the World Socialist Web Site. Firefighters performed CPR. Thakkar was pronounced dead at the scene. Family and coworkers are scheduled to hold his funeral Thursday.

North Texas was under an extreme heat warning that day, with temperatures hitting 102 degrees Monday and 108 on Tuesday; Wednesday's forecast called for highs of 108 as well, according to WSWS. Thakkar's official cause of death has not been released. USPS has not confirmed the death was heat-related. An autopsy is expected to determine that.

OSHA opens an investigation

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is now investigating Thakkar's death, according to the Dallas Observer. USPS called it "tragic" in a statement to the paper but has not said whether heat caused it.

Reporting from CBS News, cited by the Observer, indicates the vehicle Thakkar was driving lacked air conditioning. WSWS reported the truck appears to be one of the aging Grumman Long Life Vehicles USPS still uses on many routes, which have no cooling system. Interior temperatures in those trucks have been recorded above 120 degrees, according to WSWS.

This isn't the first time

Thakkar is the third USPS letter carrier in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to die on the job in roughly three years amid extreme heat.

Eugene Gates Jr., 66, collapsed and died on his Dallas route in June 2023 when the heat index hit 113 degrees. An autopsy found heat exposure and heart disease caused his death, according to Fox 4. OSHA fined USPS more than $15,600 for failing to protect Gates from "high outdoor heat including high temperature, high humidity and direct sun exposure," per WSWS. USPS appealed the citation. The Observer reports that appeal is still unresolved.

In 2025, 51-year-old Jacob Taylor collapsed and died on his Dallas route as well, prompting union members to testify before Congress about heat conditions, according to Fox 4.