Blaze triggered by ‘short circuit’ kills 22 in Odisha private hospital

BHUBANESWAR: At least 22 patients were killed and more than 20 others injured after a fire broke out at the Sum Hospital here on Monday evening, in one of the worst

BHUBANESWAR: At least 22 patients were killed and more than 20 others injured after a fire broke out at the Sum Hospital here on Monday evening, in one of the worst such incidents involving a medical facility in Odisha.

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While 14 patients were received ‘brought dead’ at the Capital Hospital, eight were ‘brought dead’ to AMRI Hospital from the fire-struck private medical facility, officials said.

Voicing “serious” concern over the incident, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik described the accident as “very tragic”.

The blaze was suspected to have been triggered by an electric short circuit in the dialysis ward on the first floor of the hospital which spread to the nearby Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The commissionerate of police and fire brigade personnel along with volunteers and hospital staff launched a massive rescue operation as more than 500 indoor patients were trapped in the building, hospital officials said.

The state government has ordered a high-level probe by the director, medical education and training, into the incident.