Chennai, (UNI) Six people were killed and several others injured in a fire mishap at a four-storeyed private orthopaedic hospital in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu late on Thursday night.
When contacted by UNI, sources in the police headquarters here said six people had died due to suffocation.
All the six deceased were those who were rescued from a lift, struck due to fire, and died due to suffocation and breathlessness.
None of the patients had died and those rescued were shifted to government and private hospitals for treatment.
The reports said when the rescue operations were on, fire service personnel came to know about eight people–four men, three women and a child–were trapped.
Of them six were rescued in an unconscious stage and they were reported dead the government hospital.
“No patients had died and all the deceased were said to be attendants who had come to the hospital to meet the patients and were trapped in the lift, which got stuck after the power supply was disconnected due to the fire”, it said.
Ruling DMK MLA I P Senthilkumar, representing Palani Assembly segment in the district, several people suffered injuries as they tried to escape from the blaze.
They were undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Fire fighting personnel, Revenue, police and district officials have rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control.
District Collector Ms Poongodi also rushed to the spot to monitor the rescue works.
More than 50 ambulances were deployed and at least 32 patients, including those from ICU, were rescued alive and shifted to other hospitals.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.He said the fire which broke out in the first floor soon spread till third floor, engulfing in smoke, leading to suffocation and breathing problems.
