18 killed, including Covid patients, in fire at ICU
At least 18 people, including two health care workers were killed in a fire at a Covid-19 hospital in Gujarat’s Bharuch late on Friday night, officials said on Saturday, in the country’s latest deadly hospital accident.
The fire started around midnight in the intensive care ward of the Patel Welfare Hospital, a designated Covid-19 facility, in Bharuch, 185km south of Ahmedabad
“Sixteen patients and two staff members have died in the fire.
Twelve of them died due to fire and smoke,” said RV Chudasama, a superintendent of police in Bharuch. “Preliminary investigation shows the fire was caused because of a short circuit,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet he was “pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch.” A dozen people were killed after a fire in a hospital treating Covid-19 patients in a suburb of Mumbai on April 23.