KOLKATA, India (AP) Fleeing medical staff abandoned patients to a fire that killed 89 people Friday as black smoke poured through the seven-story hospital in this city in eastern India, officials said. Six administrators were arrested.
Six hospital directors surrendered to police and were charged with culpable homicide, according to police who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
"It was horrifying that the hospital authorities did not make any effort to rescue trapped patients," said Subrata Mukherjee, West Bengal state minister for public health engineering. "Senior hospital authorities ran away after the fire broke out."
Rescuers pulled 73 bodies from the building and another 16 died of their injuries later, said Danayati Sen, a top Kolkata police official. Most of the deaths were due to smoke inhalation, rescue officials said.
There were 160 patients in the 190-bed facility at the time, said Satyabrata Upadhyay, a senior vice president.
"I kept ringing the bell for the nurse, but no one came," she said, adding that rescuers managed to evacuate her mother more than two hours after the fire started.
Dozens killed in India hospital fire
Six hospital directors surrendered to police and were charged with culpable homicide, according to police who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
"It was horrifying that the hospital authorities did not make any effort to rescue trapped patients," said Subrata Mukherjee, West Bengal state minister for public health engineering. "Senior hospital authorities ran away after the fire broke out."
Rescuers pulled 73 bodies from the building and another 16 died of their injuries later, said Danayati Sen, a top Kolkata police official. Most of the deaths were due to smoke inhalation, rescue officials said.
There were 160 patients in the 190-bed facility at the time, said Satyabrata Upadhyay, a senior vice president.
"I kept ringing the bell for the nurse, but no one came," she said, adding that rescuers managed to evacuate her mother more than two hours after the fire started.
Dozens killed in India hospital fire
