Cuttack (Odisha), Mar 16 (PTI) In the stillness of the early hours, when exhausted attendants of patients were sleeping on hospital floors and benches after a night of anxious waiting, a fire ripped through the trauma care ICU of SCB Medical College and Hospital and turned their fragile hope of loved ones’ recovery into gloom forever.
By sunrise, at least 10 patients were dead, as families wandered from ward to ward in disbelief, and the corridors of the state’s premier government hospital had become a landscape of shock, smoke and grief.
The blaze broke out around 2.30 am on the first floor of the trauma care unit, where 23 patients were undergoing treatment. Officials said all those killed were patients. Eleven hospital staffers suffered burn injuries while trying to rescue those trapped inside.
Two back-to-back power outages before 2.30 am seemed to be the only warning of impending danger before the fire broke out.
Patients, who were on ventilator support, were suddenly exposed to thick smoke as chaos prevailed in the ICU and staffers struggled to rescue the patients.
The trauma care centre, where critically ill patients are treated, soon turned into a quagmire of panic and subsequent deaths as the first floor of the five-storey building was engulfed in flames.
The relatives of the patients were fast asleep in the corridors of the hospital as it was past midnight and no person was allowed inside the ICU, when news of the fire spread on the premises, panicking the kin who scrambled to search for their loved ones.
They woke up to cries, running footsteps and confusion in the corridors. Many ran towards the ICU. However, security personnel restricted their entry into the ICU as the blaze spread inside the closed air-conditioned unit.
Many hoped their relatives had been rescued on time. Instead, several found their dear ones lying dead with burns.
The devastating fire at the hospital was one of the worst tragedies in the city in recent times. While 10 patients died, the remaining were shifted to other wards.
According to an eyewitness, fire broke out after two back-to-back power outages, and soon the entire ICU was filled with thick smoke.
“Relatives and attendants of patients had joined hands with the medical staffers to rescue the patients,” the eyewitness said.
Another man said he broke the window glass and poured water in an attempt to douse the fire before any assistance arrived.
“Under the guidance of a nurse, I switched off some electrical equipment and rescued seven patients from the ICU, who were in a very serious condition,” he said.
The family members of the patients accused the hospital authorities of delay in calling the fire services, and also alleged that the fire brigade was slow to respond.
They claimed that the automatic fire detection and suppression system also did not function at the time of the incident.
Fire Services Director General Sudhanshu Sarangi, however, said the fire brigade received information about the blaze at 2.58 am and the personnel reached the spot within two minutes.
They used the hydrant, which was available in the building, to extinguish the fire, he said.
For the families outside the ICU, the tragedy unfolded not through official updates, but through desperate searching, unanswered questions, and the unbearable discovery of their loved ones’ deaths.
“My brother was on ventilator support but he was recovering. Doctors had informed me that he would be brought out of ventilation in one or two days. But, today, when I was searching for him following the fire incident, I found his body lying on a stretcher in the medicine department,” the younger brother of Ramesh Chandra Parida, who died in the incident, said.
The shock was perhaps deepest for those who had gone to sleep holding on to the reassurances from doctors of recovery of their kin. Krushna Ballav Das of Balasore had admitted his 27-year-old son to the trauma care unit after a road accident that left him with a head injury on Sunday.
“He was doing well… He was recovering. When I woke up and heard about the fire, I rushed to the hospital, where a staffer told me that my son had died,” Das said, weeping.
A mother of four children, who lost her husband to the fire, said she was sleeping in the corridor when suddenly she woke up to the commotion of people rushing towards the ICU.
“When I searched for my husband and asked a staffer, he told me to visit another ward. There, I found my husband dead,” she said.
In another harrowing account, the son of a patient from West Bengal said his father had been undergoing treatment at the trauma centre for the past four days after suffering a brain stroke.
“I was sleeping in front of the ICU when the staffers asked me to go downstairs for safety,” he said. “Later, I found my father dead. His body was charred beyond recognition.” Another man, who thanked the almighty as he managed to rescue his brother, said, “When the fire erupted, I, with the help of another person, shifted my brother by carrying him on my shoulder.” The fire is suspected to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, one of the most common causes of hospital fires in India.
Hospitals are especially vulnerable because of their dependence on electrical equipment, oxygen systems and the presence of critically ill patients who often cannot be moved quickly during emergencies. PTI COR BBM AAM BBM ACD
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.