Major Fire At Kolkata Government Hospital Kills Cancer Patient in ICU, Over 80 Rescued-VIDEO

Kolkata: A fire broke out at the Sealdah (Rajabazar) ESI Hospital early on Friday morning, resulting in the death of one patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The blaze, which started around 5 am on the hospital's ground floor due to a short circuit, quickly spread to the upper floors, causing panic among patients and staff.Firefighters arrived promptly and managed to bring the situation under control. District Fire Officer TK Dutta described the incident as "a very major fire," noting, "We rescued all the patients who were trapped inside, there were nearly 80 of them. However, one patient who was admitted to the ICU died, but there has been no other casualty."One of the patients shared their experience of the fire, saying, "The room that caught fire, there was a fibre door. I switched off my alarm at 4:40 am... after some time, I saw fire and smoke started entering our room. I started calling for help. Then, the staff came and I was brought down in a wheelchair."Watch Video:

STORY | Fire breaks out at #Sealdah ESI Hospital, no report of any injury

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Another patient recalled hearing sirens and rushing to escape. "We saw the fire at 3 am and we had heard the sirens ringing. We heard people yelling and saw a room on fire when we came out. All our papers are still in the hospital. The AC in the hospital had a short circuit which led to the fire," they added.Following the incident, 80-81 patients were rescued, and 54 were transferred to other hospitals for further treatment. Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh commented on the tragedy, saying, "The fire incident is a very unfortunate one. However, right now there is no time to hold anyone responsible. The incident occurred due to a short circuit. 80 to 81 people were rescued, however, one cancer patient died due to the smoke."