A fire early Friday in a hospital in Kolkata, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, killed at least 89 people by asphyxiation, police and hospital officials said.
Local television channels showed patients being rolled out on stretchers and distraught relatives waiting outside the hospital as smoke engulfed the multi-story building. Many of the victims died from suffocation caused by the thick, choking smoke.
A senior official at the hospital says there were 160 patients at the facility at the time of the blaze, which broke out in the hospital's basement where chemicals are stored.
Local television channels showed patients being rolled out on stretchers and distraught relatives waiting outside the hospital as smoke engulfed the multi-story building. Many of the victims died from suffocation caused by the thick, choking smoke.
A senior official at the hospital says there were 160 patients at the facility at the time of the blaze, which broke out in the hospital's basement where chemicals are stored.
Hospital officials were slow to call the fire department, then fire trucks were slow to arrive, hospital officials said. Local people who tried to get inside the hospital to help rescue patients said they were turned away by security guards who assured them it was only a small kitchen fire.In fact, it took firefighters more than 12 hours to subdue the blaze, fire department officials said. The hospital’s fire detection and suppression system did not function, fire department officials said.
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