40 killed in Kolkata hospital fire mishap, Mamta orders FIR

##ad_1##KOLKATA: In a tragic incident, 40 people had been confirmed to be dead owing to the massive fire and and several others injured following the breaking out of colossal fire at the AMRI hospital in Dhakuria of south Kolkata in the wee hours on Friday.

All the victims perished in the fire mishap are patients who died due to suffocation as they could not be evacuated.The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation has ordered an FIR against the hospital authorities. The Chief Minister confirmed that the death toll in the fire mishap was 40. Meanwhile West Bengal Health Minister Sudip Bandhyopadhyay said that there was a possibility of death toll rising. There was still no clarity on what caused the fire. Bandhyopadhyay said that the West Bengal Government was shocked to know that the fire safety measures were not in place in the hospital. 

There is still no official announcement or confirmation about the exact number of casualties so far. Two people had been declared dead owing to suffocation. The incident also resulted in great deal of confusion and chaos among the patients as the fire broke out.

The eyewitnesses and police suspect that fire may have started in the basement of the AMRI hospital possibly round 3.30am. The fire spread to the first and second floors in time due to which sizeable number of patients and hospital staff got trapped.

##ad_2##The fire brigade pressed around 25 fire engines to douse the fire, which has been controlled to great extent. A large number of patients and hospital staff believed to be trapped inside the ICU, ITU, critical care units and wards of the hospital had been rescued and evacuated successfully. Sources and eyewitnesses said that the fire brigade staff reached the spot late by almost two hours around 5.30am. The relatives and families of the patients were seen looking frantically for their near and dear ones getting treatment in the hospital. 

The Commissioner of Kolkata Police RK Pachnanda, West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim and other top administrative officials are at the spot to oversee the rescue operations. The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee also reached the spot to take stock of the situation.

Besides fire brigade staff, the disaster management group staff was also rushed to the hospital for assisting in the rescue operations.