West Bengal hospital fire doused, 3 killed

Three persons, including a child, were killed and several others were critically injured due to the incident.

The fire was first seen 11:50 am. inside a VIP cabin on the first floor of the hospital building.

A huge smoke covered several other floors, triggering panic among the patients and their family members.

Meanwhile, government officials have not so far accepted the authenticity of the child's death report.

"Now the situation is completely under control," one hospital official told IBNS.

State director of Health Services Biswaranjan Satpathy told IBNS: "The fire broke out in the VIP cabin of male medicine ward around 11:50 am. and triggered panic there."

"One hospital attendant and a patient's relative died and few others were injured in the accident."

After preliminary investigation, fire department claimed that the fire started due to a short circuit.

An official of fire and emergency services told IBNS, "Two fire tender engines rushed to the spot and douzed the blaze."

"Neither hospital's fire extinguishing system nor emergency exits worked during the incident," the official claimed.

However, beside forming a probe committee to investigate the incident, West Bengal government announced a compensation of 2 lakh rupees to the victims' families.

According to unconfirmed sources, death toll could be increased.

A heavy police force,including senior officials, have been deployed to the spot, a senior official of Murshidabad district police told IBNS.

Till the latest update came in, a special medical team are heading to the scene.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)