At least 13 coronavirus patients admitted to a hospital in Virar in Maharashtra’s Palghar district died after a fire broke out in the medical facility on Friday, NDTV reported. All the patients were in the intensive care unit.

“Around 90 patients were admitted at the hospital at the time of the incident,” said Dilip Shah, chief executive officer of the Vijay Vallabh Hospital, where the fire broke out.

District Disaster Control Cell chief Vivekanand Kadam told PTI that the incident took place after an explosion in the air conditioning unit of the ICU. He added that the firefighters from the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation doused the flames within an hour.

Other patients of the hospital are expected to be shifted to another hospital.

The incident came two days after 24 people died when oxygen supply was affected due to a leakage in the main storage tank of a hospital in Nashik city in Maharashtra. The incident took place at Zakir Hussain Hospital and led to oxygen supply being stopped for around 30 minutes.

Earlier on March 26, ten people had died after a fire broke out at a hospital located inside Mumbai’s Dreams Mall. Over 70 coronavirus patients had to be evacuated from the medical facility.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state by the coronavirus pandemic in the country. On Thursday, Maharashtra recorded 67,103 new cases, pushing the state’s tally to 40,94,840 since the pandemic began in January 2020. The toll rose by 568 to 62,479.