Kolkata, December 09: At least forty one people are feared dead and several others seriously injured after a massive fire broke out at the AMRI hospital in Dhakuria of south Kolkata early Friday.
Although, no official announcement about the casualties has been made as yet, the death of at least two people has been confirmed.
According to police and witnesses, the fire is suspected to have originated in the electrical department in the basement of the AMRI hospital at around 3 am, which quickly spread to the first and second floors, trapping patients.
With fire spreading to other parts of the hospital, the fire brigade and police was called in around 4 am to start the relief and rescue operation.
Around 25 fire engines were rushed to the mishap site to douse the fire, which has been fully contained as of now. A large number patients and hospital staff believed to be trapped inside the ICU, ICCU, ITU and Critical Care units of the hospital have evacuated successfully.
However, efforts are still on to evacuate many others.
The fire fighters are currently using hydraulic ladders to reach the inaccessible areas of the hospital to rescue the patients and office workers by smashing the glasses with gas cutters.
Firemen have smashed the window panes to rescues patients from the billowing fire and smoke that engulfed the building.
The firemen were also trying to locate oxygen cylinders stocked on the floors, as the fire could make them explode. Thick smoke has been hindering the operations by 25 fire tenders, reports say.
Commissioner of Kolkata Police RK Pachnanda and West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim and other top administrative officials are at the spot. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also reached the spot to take stock of the relief and rescue operation. Hakim has confirmed that the firemen have managed to douse the fire completely.
Personnel of the Disaster Management Group were also rushed to the hospital for assisting in the operations.
The incident, however, led to chaos and confusion among those present inside the hospital at the time when the fire broke out. Families of patients later vandalised the reception counter amid complaints that no list of the dead and injured was provided to them.
Hundreds of family members of patients smashed glass panes at the reception and threw away hospital registers.
Some of the patients from the hospital were taken to the state-run SSKM Hospital, the police said.
PTI