A 35-year-old man – the member of a hospital’s housekeeping staff – died of suffocation while 11 others, including patients and staff, were rescued after a fire broke out at Kosmos Hospital on Vikas Marg in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar on Saturday afternoon, police and fire officials said.
Police said a PCR call was received at 12.20pm reporting a blaze in the server room on the ground floor of the 50-bed, five-storey hospital.
The thick smoke spread rapidly through the building, prompting an emergency evacuation, said deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara) Prashant Priya Gautam.
“Eight patients were immediately shifted to the nearby Pushpanjali Hospital for safety. During the rescue operation, three hospital staff members — identified as Amit (single name), Har Devi, and Naresh (single name), who worked in the dialysis unit — were brought out from the building and taken to Pushpanjali Hospital,” he said. “While Har Devi and Naresh suffered minor breathing issues, Amit was declared dead on arrival.”
A Kosmos Hospital staffer said Amit, initially seen on the hospital’s roof, later moved to the third floor and locked himself inside a bathroom, apparently trying to save himself.
“He was found unconscious during the rescue and could not be revived. He had been working with us for one and a half years. His family has been informed,” the staffer said, asking not to be identified.
Doctors at Pushpanjali Hospital said the other patients are now stable. “Initially, they had respiratory distress, but recovered within 15 minutes,” a doctor, who also asked not to be identified, said.
A senior fire department official said nine fire tenders were deployed. “The fire was confined to the server room but generated heavy smoke, making evacuation challenging. By 2.30pm, the fire and smoke were completely doused,” the official said.
The DCP said a case under Sections 287 and 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — corresponding to Sections 285 and 304A of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code — is being registered to determine negligence. “Prima facie, it appears to be a short-circuit, but the exact cause will be ascertained only after the completion of the investigation,” Gautam said.
