Bharuch: Sixteen Covid-19 patients and two nurses died in a tragic fire in the ICU ward of Welfare Hospital in Bharuch. This is the second fire incident in which multiple casualties were reported from Gujarat.
Earlier this week, five persons had died when a fire broke out in an ICU ward of a private Covid-19 hospital in Surat.
In the Bharuch hospital, the fire occurred in an ICU ward and quickly spread to the entire floor of a four storey building where more than 50 COVID-19 patients were undergoing the treatment.
“A total of 18 persons died in the fire including 16 patients and two nurses,” a statement issued by the district police stated. The deceased included eleven female and seven male.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. The Gujarat Government has ordered an inquiry to be conducted by two senior IAS officials into the incident while announcing a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the family of the deceased while expressing grief over the incident.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani appointed two senior bureaucrats — Additional Chief Secretary (labour and employment) Vipul Mittra and Commissioner (municipalities) Rajkumar Beniwal — to rush to Bharuch for an immediate inquiry into the incident.
A statement from the Chief Minister’s Office stated that CM was also contemplating setting up a judicial inquiry in to the gruesome incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his condolences, “Pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch. Condolences to the bereaved families,” he wrote on his Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, the Welfare hospital located on Jambusar bypass road in Bharuch is being used to treat Covid-19 patients of the district since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
As per the details shared by the local police and fire department, there were around 27 Covid patients in the ICU including some on ventilators.
The fire broke out at around 1 a.m. on Saturday when the patients were sleeping. After noticing the blaze, the hospital staff tried to rescue the patients who were on ventilators.
The locals also rushed to the spot to help after hearing screams from the hospital staff. The blaze was controlled an hour after the Police reached on the spot.
“After reaching the spot, the policemen launched the rescue works and broke the glass windows to rescue the patients. More than 20 patients were rescued and were rushed to other private hospitals in nearby areas,” a press release issued by the district police said.
According to the police and firemen, the patients died of burning and asphyxiation.
This is the latest in a horrific series of fire tragedies in hospitals in Gujarat. This week, five Covid-19 patients had died when a ICU ward of a hospital in Surat caught fire.
Last year, in two tragic incidents of fire in Covid-19 hospitals, eight patients had died in Ahmedabad and six in Rajkot.
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