Massive fire at Lucknow’s Lok Bandhu Hospital, 200 patients evacuated

A massive fire broke out at the Lok Bandhu Raj Narayan Hospital here on Monday night, causing panic among patients and their attendants. The incident took place on the second floor of the ICU building near the female ward.

The scale of the fire prompted chief minister Yogi Adityanath to take note and deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak to reach the scene. The chief minister sought detailed information about the situation from officials.

The deputy chief minister said nearly 200 patients were evacuated.

“Patients have been shifted to other hospitals, including Civil, Balrampur, KGMU, and Lohia, and the health department is on high alert,” Pathak said.

“The doctors and paramedical staff of the hospital immediately started shifting the patients,” he added.

Patients were evacuated and transferred to nearby hospitals for continued care, DCP South Nipun Agarwal said.

“The cause of the fire is still being investigated,” he added.

District magistrate Vishak G confirmed that all patients had been evacuated by the firefighters.

Soon after the blaze erupted, doctors and hospital staff rushed to evacuate patients, but the intense flames and thick smoke initially made it challenging.

Local police arrived at the scene and used torches and mobile phone lights to carry out the rescue operation and help evacuate patients trapped in the ward.

Fire brigade teams faced difficulties reaching the site as their vehicle got stuck in the main gate due to a narrow road. After an hour of struggle, six small fire tenders were deployed through a different gate.

“Krishna Nagar police got the information at around 10 pm and rushed to the site and sufficient (six) fire tenders too reached to control the blaze and it was fully contained. The teams of police and fire both evacuated the patients and they were shifted to nearby hospitals for further treatment. The cause of the fire is being investigated,” the DCP said.

“Six fire engines had been called to the spot. The fire has been extinguished and no casualties have been reported so far,” confirmed chief fire officer Mangesh Kumar.

“Smoke was proving to be more of a challenge as it had filled the entire second floor. Firefighters are working on clearing the smoke now,” said Dr AS Tripathi, medical superintendent at Lok Bandhu Hospital.

He also said that the suspected cause of the fire was a short circuit on the floor, but it was yet to be confirmed.