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by IANS |
New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) The national capital on Friday witnessed back-to-back fire incidents at two different hospitals but fortunately no injuries or casualties were reported.
In the first incident, a fire broke out at the Makkar Multi Speciality Hospital in Priyadarshini Vihar, Laxmi Nagar.
A fire department official informed that they received a call about the incident at 8.10 a.m. on the terrace of the hospital, after which four fire tenders were immediately pressed into service.
"The fire was on the fourth floor of the hospital building which is the doctors' residence," Delhi Fire Service (DFS) chief Atul Garg said, adding that all the patients were safely evacuated.
The fire was put out in an hour.
The second incident was reported at the Safdarjung Hospital.
The fire department received information about the incident at 8.45 a.m. on the second floor of the hospital, after which six fire tenders were immediately pressed into service.
As the fire station is very close to the hospital, the engines were at the spot in no time and the fire was doused in just 10 minutes.
"It was a minor fire in an inverter and a stabiliser of the lift room and was extinguished by 8.55 a.m.," the official said.
Garg told IANS that 42 people died in just the month of May, while 117 have suffered injuries.
The number of casualties in previous years during the month of May were -- 41 in 2021, 10 in 2020 and 18 in 2019.
Clearly, the numbers have increased when compared to the previous years.
Not just the number of casualties, fire calls have also soared by 49 per cent this year in May, according to Garg.
In 2020, 1,432 calls were received, while this year so far 2,145 calls were attended by the DFS.
