Muzaffarpur/Patna, June 4: Five patients choked to death at a private hospital in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar on Thursday after smoke filled the ICU following a fire incident, and the staff allegedly ran away leaving those admitted there in the lurch, a top official said.
A short circuit apparently triggered the fire in the hospital, and the district administration formed a committee to look into the matter.
Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary directed the authorities to pay an ex-gratia of Rs four lakh to the next of kin of each deceased.
The rescue operations began within four minutes of receipt of information that there was a fire at Prasad Hospital, situated in Brahmapura locality of the north Bihar town, Shobha Ahotkar, the Director General (Fire), told PTI Video in the state capital.
“Our brave firefighters were at the ICU, situated on the fifth floor of the hospital, within four minutes of the receipt of information, and they were able to evacuate 23 patients altogether. All the deaths have been caused by asphyxiation, and there were no burn injuries,” Ahotkar said.
Fire officer RN Pandey told reporters in Muzaffarpur that they received the information about the fire around 3 AM.
“But when we reached there, we found no flames but only dense, black smoke,” Pandey said. (PTI)
