4 patients dead, several injured as fire breaks out in Thane hospital

At least four patients died and several others were injured in a blaze that erupted in a private hospital near Thane on Wednesday (April 28) morning.

Reports said the fire broke out the Prime Criticare Hospital at Kausa in Mumbra, at around 3.40 am. Three fire engines and five ambulances were pressed into service to douse the blaze. The fire is now under control.

As many as 20 patients including six in the ICU were rescued from the hospital. There, however, were no COVID patients in the hospital, reports said.

The entire first floor of the hospital building has been destroyed in the blaze. The source of fire is yet to be located.

Maharashtra minister Jitendra Awhad who visited the site said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has been apprised of the incident and that the kin of victims will receive ₹5 lakh each while the injured would be given ₹1 lakh each.

He also said that a high-level committee comprising officials of Thane’s municipal corporation and police and medical officials has been constituted to probe the cause of the fire.

In a similar incident last week, 14 COVID patients perished in a fire that swept through the ICU ward of a hospital in Virar, around 50 km from Thane.