In the early hours of Friday, the sound of the sirens of fire brigades echoed around the Mavdi neighbourhood of Rajkot as an emergency response team rushed to douse heavy flames emerging out of the Uday Shivanand hospital at around 1:00 a.m.
Sputnik tried reaching out to the hospital to get a clearer picture of the situation, but all telephone lines were temporarily unavailable.
Meanwhile, heart-wrenching still images from inside the hospital have made their way to social media.
Narrating details of the accident while expressing emotional condolences, netizens from the region detailed the catastrophe with chilling images from the now-destroyed ICU ward on the first floor of the hospital.
#Rajkot
— Mohammad Asaraf Ansari 🇮🇳 (@Mohammad_Asarf) November 27, 2020
Fire breaks out in ICU ward of Uday Shivanand COVID hospital late Thursday night. 5 patients dead, 1 critical, 5 patients rescued from ICU ward, 22 patients safely shifted to other hospital. Short circuit suspected behind the fire. pic.twitter.com/wecP0mbnJV
A fire broke out at a COVID-19 designated hospital in Gujarat's Rajkot in the wee hours of Friday. At least five patients died in the fire, while another was critical. pic.twitter.com/aefr2lOcdX
— Our Vadodara (@ourvadodara) November 27, 2020
#Gujarat deputy CM and health minister Nitin Patel on Rajkot fire, "three patients died on the spot while two others passed away during shifting to another hospital. @DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/U0XXMkLhIM
— satish jha. (@satishjha) November 27, 2020
#Rajkot
— Ketan jain k10 (@Jain_ketan_k10) November 27, 2020
A hospital fire in Rajkot city of Gujarat claimed as many as five lives in the wee hours of Friday (November 27). The fire had broken out in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the designated COVID-19 hospital in Rajkot. #pandemic #COVIDー19 #gujrat pic.twitter.com/wK6GZSQsY5
Fire #COVID19 patients dead in massive fire at Uday Shivanand, a Covid-designated Hospital in Rajkot.
— Brendan Dabhi (@BrendanMIRROR) November 27, 2020
The fire took place in the ICU on the first floor of the hospital where 11 patients were under critical care. Total 33 patients were admitted to the hospital.@ahmedabadmirror pic.twitter.com/u87osdCnSr
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed grief at the loss of lives in his home state Gujarat.
Extremely pained by the loss of lives due to a hospital fire in Rajkot. My thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones in this unfortunate tragedy. Praying for a quick recovery of the injured. The administration is ensuring all possible assistance to those affected: PM
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) November 27, 2020
This is the second accidental fire to have led to the death of patients in a COVID-19 hospital in Gujarat.
Earlier in August, eight Coronavirus patients were killed when fire broke out on the top floor of a four-storey private hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
