Patna: Three persons were killed and over a dozen injured in a major fire incident that engulfed three buildings of hotels, barely 50 metres from Patna junction on Thursday morning, said a fire brigade official.
Officials said they recovered one body from the Hotel Pal, while two other bodies of a mother and daughter were recovered from adjoining Hotel Amrit.
The fire brigade official said the casualty could rise. Several vehicles, including four-wheelers, two-wheelers and auto-rickshaws, were also gutted in the fire, which spread quickly due to strong winds.
Firefighting officials said several people have been rescued and sent to the Patna Medical College Hospital while further rescue operation is underway.
“Three people were brought dead out of the total 17 victims of fire, admitted to our hospital so far with burn injuries. We are doing an ECG (electrocardiogram) on two other critical patients before we confirm their death. Besides, two others are also serious, while the remaining do not have serious burn injuries,” said Dr IS Thakur, medical superintendent of the Patna Medical College Hospital.
Firefighting officials said that the brigade tenders reached the spot on time, however, the dousing and rescue operation started late due to the busy and perennially congested stretch. The fire was eventually controlled after seven to eight tenders worked for over two hours, said officials.
“Over 45 persons stranded on the rooftops were rescued by the fire brigade teams, while over a dozen were admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMcH) for treatment,” said director general-cum-commandant, home guard and fire services Shobha Ohotkar.
The DG, who was monitoring the operation, said that the congestion in the area had caused trouble, but the fire brigade officials tried their best to reduce casualties and damages while rescuing the people.
“We have been consistently carrying out fire audits and telling hotel owners to maintain proper and working fire safety measures. The hotels should take it seriously. Right now our first objective is to rescue people,” she added.
The fire started at Pal Hotel and soon spread to nearby Amrit Hotel and other buildings. A Border Security Force constable who was having food at Pal Hotel when the tragedy struck said the gas cylinders started bursting after the fire. He said the situation could have been controlled if the fire tenders had reached the spot on time.
An eyewitness said that the fire tenders could start their operation only after 40 minutes and till then there was chaos in the area.
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