Sheetla Hospital catches fire, no casualties reported

It was a horrendous experience for Gajendra Singh when he visited the Sheetla Hospital for his check-up. The first floor of the hospital caught fire on Friday morning. However, the fire department soon controlled the situation. "I was on the ground floor when I heard people on the first floor shouting loudly. We saw all the people on the floor running downwards. A worker at the hospital told us to vacate the building as the first floor caught fire," said Gajendra Singh.

Located in the busy New Railway road, the officials of the fire department suspect short-circuit to be the cause of the fire.

According to the officials, at around 9 am, the shot circuit took place in the Air Conditioning Chamber (ACC) room on the second floor. Many of the admitted patients along with their relatives were present there. The workers and the staff at the hospital acted swiftly as they saw smoke emitting from the ACC.

"We helped all the people to vacate the floor and took them to the safe place," said a worker at the hospital.

The workers later called up the emergency number, and within 10-15 minutes 5 vehicles of the fire department started dousing the fire. The situation was brought under control within one hour.

"It would be too early to confirm what really caused the fire, but it seems like there was a short-circuit in the electrical line which caused the fire," said Senior Fire Officer, I.S Kashyap.

There were no casualties. Two people sustained minor burns and were given primary medication.

The senior officials of the hospital could not be contacted.