Chennai floods: 18 critical patients die in MIOT hospital

A major power crisis has hit the rain-struck state of Tamil Nadu where 18 people lost their lives after being admitted to the Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (MIOT) in a critical condition.

"The MIOT Hospital was treating around 575 patients when the floods began. 75 of them were on the ventilator at the time, and 18 patients have now died due to unclear reasons. We managed to shift 57 of those critical patients to different hospitals," Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan told ANI.

He said the reasons of their deaths are unclear as of now and added that an investigation is underway to probe the incident.

The unrelenting rains, which have briefly stopped, have left Tamil Nadu with an unprecedented crisis of power shortage among others, even though the relief operations are on to restore it.

Meanwhile, with the rains having reduced, rescue operations by different teams have intensified in Tamil Nadu to rescue the stranded people.

NDRF DG O.P. Singh told ANI that they have sped up the rescue operations, especially in the severely waterlogged areas, and are trying to increase communication levels.

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"The rains have stopped for now and its intensity has reduced. Out team will be heading out aggressively to the areas where people are stranded, especially where water-logging is causing major trouble. We have broken up our teams into sector and have dispersed them in south Chennai where the damage is the most," Singh said.