NEW DELHI: According to officials on Monday, a suspected short circuit triggered a hospital fire at a trauma center at the biggest state-run hospital in Jaipur, a city in northwest India, which killed at least six patients and injured five more.
Anurag Dhakad, a hospital official, told the ANI news agency that the fire that started in the Sawai Man Singh Hospital’s critical care unit (ICU) was “releasing toxic gases” and that a short circuit was likely the cause.
“Five patients are still critical,” he added, adding that 13 patients had been safely removed from the hospital’s two wards in the Rajasthani capital, which serves patients from all over the desert state.
Teams from the fire department arrived in the neurosurgery intensive care unit within 20 minutes of the fire starting late on Sunday.
