- Short circuit suspected as the cause of deadly jaipur brand.
- Blaze started in intensive care unit at Sawai Man Singh Hospital
- Forensic team to determine the exact cause of the fire.
New Delhi: A hospital burn caused by a suspected short circuit killed at least six patients in a trauma center at the largest state hospital in India’s northwestern city of Jaipur and wounded five, officials said Monday.
The fire began in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Sawai Man Singh Hospital, “Released toxic gases,” the hospital’s official Anurag Dhakad told Ani News Agency, adding that a short circuit was the suspected cause.
“Five patients are still critical,” he said, while 13 had surely been evacuated from the two departments in the hospital in the capital of Rajasthan, which draws patients from all over the desert state.
The fire brigade team arrived within 20 minutes after the fire began late Sunday in Neurosurgery ICU, Hospital Superintendent Sushil Kumar Bhati told the agency.
Most of the hospital’s equipment was blurred in the approximately two hours it took to bring the fire under control but the TV station Ndtv said.
Jaipur -Police Chief Biju George Joseph said a forensic investigation would determine the exact cause.
Rajasthan’s government whose capital is Jaipur has created a panel to investigate the cause, Ani said.
It will investigate the hospital’s fire fighting events and management’s answers as well as steps to avoid similar events, the agency added.
Similar hospital fires in India have been blamed for short circuits in electronic equipment.
Ten newborns died of burns and choking after a fire in November in a neonatal intensive care unit in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
In May 2024, six newborns died in a fire at a baby care hospital in New Delhi, the capital.
