Thirteen Covid-19 patients died in a hospital fire at Virar in Palghar district of Maharashtra early on Friday morning. The fire broke out in the ICU on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital shortly after 3 am.
Till 5:20 am firefighters extinguished the blaze, authorities told PTI. There were 17 patients in the ICU when the fire broke out, an official said. Four patients were rescued and shifted to other hospitals in the area, he added. Virar is over 50 km from Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the deceased’s family members and Rs 50,000 for the severely injured. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, state’s chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Defence minister Rajnath Singh and Odisha chief minister Naveen Pattanaik expressed grief over the tragic incident.
One more devastating incident. Deeply pained to know about loss of lives in Virar Covid Hospital ICU fire.My deepest condolences to bereaved families.Wishing speedy recovery to injured #COVID19 patients. We demand an in-depth inquiry & strong action against those responsible.— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) April 23, 2021
PM @narendramodi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the hospital fire in Virar, Maharashtra. Rs. 50,000 would be given to those seriously injured.— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 23, 2021
Anguished to hear about the loss of lives due to fire at Virar Covid Hospital ICU. My deepest condolences to the families who have lost their family in the devastating incident.— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) April 23, 2021
Deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the tragic fire accident at a #COVID19 hospital in #Virar, Maharashtra. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief and pray for the speedy recovery of those who have sustained injuries.— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) April 23, 2021
This is a big accident. Those found responsible won't be spared. The government will provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs each to the families of those who lost their lives: Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde on Virar hospital fire incident pic.twitter.com/Gzku3m65Ff— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2021
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Minister Eknath Shinde on the incident said, those found responsible won’t be spared and the government will provide financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs each to the families of those who lost their lives
The tragedy comes two days after 22 COVID-19 patients who were either on ventilator or oxygen support, suffocated to death when their oxygen supply stopped suddenly due to a malfunction in the main storage at a civic hospital in Nashik. District Disaster Control Cell chief Vivekanand Kadam told.
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