Many of the 22 dead were elderly people who had suffocated to death, CR Nayak, the state’s director of health services, told reporters
At least 22 people were killed when a fire broke out at a private hospital in India’s eastern state of Odisha on Monday, officials said. The fire erupted in the dialysis ward of the SUM hospital’s critical-care unit in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, public health officials said. Preliminary information showed the fire started after an electrical short-circuit, media said. Many of the 22 dead were elderly people who had suffocated to death, CR Nayak, the state’s director of health services, told reporters. Ambulances took more than 120 patients to other hospitals, officials said, while firemen battled to control the flames. Some of the wounded patients were still in critical condition. “We are trying our best to save lives,” said Arti Ahuja, an official of the state’s health and family welfare department. The tragedy was “mind-numbing”, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who urged the federal health minister to hasten the transfer of injured victims to a nearby government hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Source: Dhaka Tribune
