1st LD Writethru: 2 killed, several injured in hospital fire in eastern India

At least two persons have been killed and several others injured in a major fire that broke out at a government hospital in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal Saturday, a senior police official said.

"The incident took place at Behrampur Medical College in the state's Murshidabad district in the afternoon. The blaze first broke out in a room on the hospital's third floor and then quickly spread to other adjacent rooms, including the children's ward," he said, on condition of anonymity.

While two women, including a caretaker of the children's ward, were killed due to suffocation in the fire, many people, including doctors, nurses and patients, sustained injuries in the fire, while some got wounded while trying to get out, the official said.

Local TV channels reported that some four to five fire-tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames and showed footage of smoke billowing out of the hospital. Some reports said that a few patients even jumped off the third floor of the hospital to escape death.

According to the hospital administration, the fire originated from an air-conditioned machine.

"We have fire prevention and fighting equipment in the hospital. We have to find out how it happened exactly," Suhrita Pal, the hospital's medical supervisor, told the media.

The hospital remains crowded during day, and at any point of time it has at least 200 patients and their relatives present, apart from doctors and other medical and non-medical staff. Endit