A tragedy was narrowly averted at a hospital today in the Janakpuri area of west Delhi here after a fire broke out on its premises.
The occurrence of the fire saw dozens of patients being evacuated although nobody was reported injured in the incident.
Fire department officials said that an emergency call about a fire on the second floor of Mata Chanan Devi Hospital was received at 4 P.M.
"Fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot and the fire was brought under control within an hour," an official said.
The fire -- suspected to have been caused by a short circuit -- was said to have started inside a store room in the operational area of the hospital and spread rapidly and produced a lot of smoke.
Nearly 45 patients and other wards who were close to the source of the fire were shifted to safer wards, said Dr Munesh, a physician at the hospital and Divisional Warden of Civil Defence.
The flames gave rise to dense smoke and hospital staff and security initially tried to control the fire with extinguishers. They also smashed window panes to release the smoke which had accumulated in the operational area before the fire officials arrived at the spot, he said.
