8 killed, 9 injured in massive fire at Jabalpur hospital, rescue operation underway

Eight people died and nine others were injured on Monday (August 1) in a massive fire that broke out at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a private hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur.

Jabalpur Collector Dr Ilayaraja T told reporters a rescue operation was underway at the New Life Multi-speciality Hospital in the Damoh Naka Shivnagar locality of Jabalpur to evacuate patients.

Jabalpur police control room spokesman Ravindra Singh confirmed the death of eight people and injuries to nine others in the blaze.

However, it was not immediately clear if the deceased included patients.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Siddharth Bahuguna told PTI that prima facie evidence show that an electrical short circuit may be responsible for the blaze.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed his grief over the incident and condoled the bereaved families. He announced an ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh each to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 to the injured. He also announced that the state government will bear the full expenses for the treatment of the injured persons.

“I am in constant touch with the local administration and the collector. The chief secretary has been asked to keep a close eye on the developments. Every effort is being taken towards rescue and relief operations,” he tweeted.