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70% victims of Maharashtra hospital fire died due to smoke: Police
A day after a massive fire at the intensive care unit (ICU) of a civil hospital in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district claimed 11 lives, police on Sunday said that most of the victims had died due to smoke which had engulfed the ward
A day after a massive fire at the intensive care unit (ICU) of a civil hospital in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district claimed 11 lives, police on Sunday said that most of the victims had died due to smoke which had engulfed the ward. The state government has formed an eight-member committee to probe the matter.
At least 70% of the victims died due to the smoke while the remaining died of burn injuries, Zubair Mujawar, assistant police inspector at Topkhana Police, said.
“We found that most of them died due to smoke while a small portion died due to burns. The ratio is 70:30. Further investigation is underway. Post-mortem details are awaited,” Mujawar, who is one of the investigating officers in the case, told reporters here.
At least 11 Covid-19 patients were killed in the fire which erupted at around 11 am in the ICU located on the ground floor of the district hospital on Saturday. As many as 17 patients, many of them senior citizens and some on ventilator or oxygen, were undergoing treatment in the ward when the incident occurred.
A short circuit was suspected to be the cause of the incident though it was yet to be confirmed.
The Ahmednagar Police have already registered a first information report (FIR) against unidentified persons under section 304 (A) (causing death due to negligence) under Indian Penal Code.
“We have registered a police case under section 304(A) of IPC against unidentified persons. Police have started their investigation and those found guilty will be punished,” Deepak Pandey, inspector general (Nashik range), said.
The probe committee formed by the state government will be headed by the divisional commissioner, Nashik range.
Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation chief fire officer Shankar Misal, who is part of the committee, said: “The work on probing the lapses and exact reason behind the fire incident will be determined. The committee will also look into reasons behind the non-implementation of safety measures and also make recommendations for greater patient safety and security at the hospital,” he said.
On Saturday, Misal had said that the work of installing necessary fire safety systems at the hospital was not complete due to “want of funds”.
A preliminary report is likely to be submitted to the government in two days, he added.
