A fire at a private hospital in the heart of Jabalpur killed eight people and injured five others on Monday afternoon. Two of the survivors are in critical condition, and the toll may rise.
With no emergency exit and only a four-ft-wide door for entry and exit, the two-storey New Life Multispeciality Hospital in Chandaal Bhata area turned into a death trap for those on the first floor.
Among the dead are four patients, an attendant and three staffers of the hospital, Jabalpur collector Illayraja T said. All the deceased and the injured were in the Intensive Care Unit. According to SP Siddharth Bahuguna, flames were seen leaping out of the generator at 2. 38 pm. With the first shouts of ‘fire’, people began running for the lone exit.
According to a preliminary probe, the fire started due to “sparking” in the generator kept outside the hospital, the SP said. Those who were in the OPD on the ground floor got out. Most of the staffers too escaped, but the fire spread so rapidly that no one on the first floor could get out. Within minutes, the entire building was engulfed in flames.
The first responders were on the scene in 10 minutes and the fire was put out around 4 pm. Then, rescuers began the grim task of digging through the smouldering debris to look for those trapped.
Thirteen victims were evacuated and taken to hospitals, where eight were declared dead on arrival. One of the victims, a woman, is yet to be identified.
Last year too, five patients had died in a fire at a private hospital in Jabalpur.
