Panic grips Bihar hospital after gas leak

Panic gripped the Patna Medical College and Hospital here Friday when a leakage was detected in an oxygen gas cylinder in the children's ward, police said. The hospital has under treatment 25 school children who suffered food poisoning after eating mid-day meal in Saran district.

"The leakage created panic among the patients but the situation was soon brought under control," a police officer said.

Soon after the news of the gas leak spread, most of the patients, including the 25 children, were evacuated but later returned to their wards, a doctor who did not wish to be named told IANS.

Amarkant Jha Amar, hospital superintendent, told the media that there was nothing to worry about and that "everything has been normal at the hospital".

Twenty-three children died in Bihar's Saran district after consuming contaminated food at their school Tuesday.