Chaos added to horror as thousands turned up to help

Surat/Bharuch: Within minutes of the fire breaking out at the Welfare Hospital late on Friday night, locals started to gather outside the hospital in thousands, the mob, mostly comprising frantic relatives of patients, adding fuel to the chaos. The police said that it had to deploy staff to control the mob of about 15,000 which turned up to help in rescuing the patients.
“Relatives of the patients started making frantic calls for help. A few locals circulated audio messages on WhatsApp urging people to come and help. All of this led to a large gathering outside the hospital,” said a police official.
As it was the month of Ramzan, many locals were awake and were hanging around after breaking the daylong fast. The first to rush in were a group of youngsters who were hanging out at Jambusar Chowkdi located about half kilometre away from the hospital. Some of them entered the hospital and rescued the patients who were then shifted to hospitals in Vagra and Jambusar.
Blaring sirens of ambulances and fire tenders filled the air around the hospital as dozens of vehicles rushed in to douse the fire and help shift patients who survived the blaze.
Along with the rescue teams, many locals were seen volunteering to rescue the patients and shift them to ambulances so that they could be taken to nearby hospitals. Several patients were shifted out on wheelchairs or by makeshift stretchers using cloth in absence of stretchers.
A pall of gloom descended on Sansrod, Tankaria, Bhadbhut, Kasad, Manubar, Tankaria, Hinglot, Rahadpore, Karmad, Manubar and Dhadal as the victims who died in the inferno were natives of these villages.