Toll rises to 8 in Mumbai hospital blaze, 25 critical

The overnight toll in a Mumbai government hospital blaze rose to eight with two more victims succumbing to their injuries, said a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Disaster Control official here on Tuesday.

Of the 176 rescued injured, at least another 25 admitted to various hospitals remain critical from the devastating fire broke out in the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in MIDC, Andheri East on Monday evening.

While 142 continue their treatment in over half a dozen public and private hospitals, 26 have been discharged so far, said the official.

Of the eight fatalities, a majority died due to suffocation, and at least one panicked and jumped from the third floor to his death.

The fire was first noticed near the Operation Theatre of the five-storey hospital located at Marol MIDC, an industrial hub.

The blaze, which is suspected to have been caused by a short-circuit, quickly spread horizontally and vertically, trapping around 155 people in the building with a glass facade.

While the firemen used ladders, other rescuers deployed ropes and saris tied as ropes to bring down the wailing and screaming people trapped on the third and fourth floors.

Mumbai has witnessed over a dozen major fires in residential and commercial premises this year, claiming over 50 lives and injuring several hundreds, besides damaging to properties worth in crores.

--IANS

qn/in