10 Covid patients killed after fire in hospital located in Mumbai mall

The fire started on the first floor of the mall, and smoke spread to the upper floors. The hospital, particularly its intensive care unit, was badly affected. Seven of the patients who died due to the fire were in the ICU; the other three were in the wards. All were on oxygen support. Officials said they died of asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation.

The hospital had 78 patients. All, including the dead, have been accounted for. None of the rescued sustained any injuries due to the fire.

The premises had undergone two separate fire audits conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) — of private hospitals as well as commercial malls — over the last six months. The fire audit of Dreams Mall conducted at the end of 2020 revealed that it had a non-functional fire safety system and its fire exits were blocked. A notice was sent to the mall for the fire safety violations. However, the mall has not submitted a compliance report till date, a senior fire brigade official said.

A similar audit was done to evaluate the fire safety of Sunrise Hospital this year, Dr Vilas Mohekar, medical officer of S ward, said. He said the hospital was compliant with all fire safety norms.

A salon owner who has a unit in the mall said, “The fire spread fast. There were many mini blasts thereafter. A group of shopkeepers have repeatedly complained about the fire hazard inside the mall; however, no action was taken.”

Nurse Soni Sambhal said they were alerted by the fire alarm system. “Then smoke started coming in. We ran into the normal ward and asked all patients to run to the assembly point near the terrace on the third floor. They were all Covid-19 patients, but stable,” she said.

After 50 minutes, a fire brigade crane accessed the third floor and started rescuing those gathered on the terrace. “Our staff carried some patients who could not walk because they were covered in bedsheets,” Sambhal said. “But there were several critical in ICU or on ventilator support. We could not rescue all of them. At one point there was so much smoke, we could not see anything around,” she said.

Sambhal herself fainted after she was rescued by the fire brigade. She has been admitted to Saarthi hospital in Bhandup.

Most shops in Dreams Mall are shut because of losses incurred during the pandemic. The 257-bed hospital had the most number of people in the entire mall.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray visited the mall on Friday. “An inquiry will be ordered. If there is any negligence or delay, it will be investigated and action will be taken against those who are responsible,” Thackeray said.

The Chief Minister expressed regret that lives could not be saved and apologised to the kin of the dead. He also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of all the dead.

Thackeray said that in the recent past, he had given instructions to carry out structural and fire audits of Covid-19 care centres and field hospitals in the state. “I had asked (the authorities) to ensure such incidents do not occur. Still, unfortunately, this has taken place… I express regret to those who have lost their kin in the incident,” he said in Marathi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the loss of lives in the incident. “Pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Mumbai. I pray that the injured recover soon,” he said.

The fire, classified as ‘Level 4’, broke out in one of the shops on the first floor of the four-storey, glass-façade building around midnight. A firefighter at the site said, “Most of the patients that we rescued had been brought to the refuge area (on the third floor) of the hospital.” Firemen broke glass panes on the third floor to release the smoke.

Of the 30 patients shifted to the Mulund jumbo facility, 14 had been in the ICU at Sunrise and were in need of oxygen support. “14 patients of the 30 shifted here required critical care. At least four of them were dialysis patients. Two patients who had severe breathlessness were shifted to Seven Hills hospital,” said Dr Pradeep Angre, dean, Mulund Jumbo centre.

Those who were rescued were in stable condition and could walk.

“The casualties were because of asphyxiation. One patient came gasping but died before we could start treatment. Old age was also a big factor, all those who died were elderly,” said Dr Vikrant Tikone, medical superintendent in MT Agrawal hospital.

Harish Karamchand Sachdeva (60) was on oxygen support in intensive care. His body was found in the hospital ward. So was Mahadev Shankar Iyer’s body, who was aged 79 and on oxygen support. Shyam Bhaktani (78) was admitted on Thursday, and also required oxygen. He was also found dead in the hospital ward.

Fire extinguishing operations were underway until late on Friday.