CID probe ordered into Murshidabad hospital fire

The committee will comprise secretaries of other relevant departments and will look into the cause of the incident. It will suggest remedial measure so that such incidents do not recur and look into other incidental issues, the release added.

Two women died and seven others were injured in a stampede after a fire broke out in Murshidabad Medical College Hospital on Saturday triggering panic among patients and their relatives.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for next of kin who lost their lives in the fire tragedy at the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Behrampur, West Bengal. The chief minister asked police, fire department and health department to submit detailed reports on the incident. She has also ordered formation of committee to probe the fire tragedy and is personally monitoring situation.

Giving details, Director of Health Services Biswaranjan Satpathy said that a fire broke out in the AC machine of a vacant VIP cabin at the main medical ward of the hospital. “Everybody tried to run away to escape from the fire which resulted in a stampede in which two ayahs (nursing aides) died,” he said.

“Patients in the adjacent wards were immediately taken out including those from the paediatric ward and all of them were relocated to the newly built MCH (mother child) Hub,” Satpathy said. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is monitoring the situation from Kolkata, while a four-member high power team from Kolkata has been asked to rush to the site at the earliest, he said.

(With ANI inputs)