Five COVID-19 patients were killed in a fire at the ICU of a private hospital in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur city on Saturday.
According to a Times of India report, the fire broke out on the first floor of the hospital, where 34 patients were admitted.
Nine of them were in the intensive care unit. A short circuit is believed to have caused the fire.
The fire brigade and hospital staff rescued the patients. It took about an hour to extinguish the fire.
According to the hospital authorities, these patients were COVID-19 positive and some were on oxygen support, which would have been disrupted due to the fire.
The police told reporters that four patients died of suffocation, while the fifth died of burn injuries.
The deceased are Ramesh Sahu, Ishwar Rao, Vandana Gajmala, Bhagya Shri and Devika Sonkar.
Twenty-nine patients were shifted to other hospitals.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for the families of the patients killed in the fire.
An FIR will be filed against the hospital management for negligence, Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Yadav said.
Raipur Collector Bharathi Dasan ordered an investigation into the incident.
