HARI KUMAR<\/p>\n
New York Times<\/p>\n
NEW DELHI \u2014 At least 20 people died in a fire at a hospital in easternIndia<\/a> after smoke filled an intensive care unit, officials said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The fire late Monday at Sum Hospital<\/a>, in the city of Bhubaneswar, may have been started by a short-circuit in its dialysis unit, said Sharad Kumar Sahoo, a city police inspector.<\/p>\n The people most likely died from inhaling carbon monoxide, said Gangadhar Sahoo, dean of the Institute of Medical Sciences, which is affiliated with the hospital. The survivors were moved elsewhere, he said. The number of injured was unclear.<\/p>\n Employees tried to fight the fire but were unable to control it, said Badal Pradhan, the hospital\u2019s security supervisor, and it took firefighters at least 30 minutes to arrive.<\/p>\n The blaze was brought under control, but thick smoke filled the adjacent wards, said Trilok Kumar Babu, a city fire official. Evacuating the patients took four hours, he said.<\/p>\n Patients and attendants were \u201cattempting to jump\u201d from the hospital\u2019s second floor, The Times of India reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Witnesses described a chaotic scene as families tried to help their loved ones. \u201cI saw people rush and run but could not understand what had happened,\u201d said Nilambar Pattnaik, 38, who led his wife, who was recovering from an operation earlier in the day, to a room that he said was so crowded with bodies that she had difficulty breathing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can still smell the smoke,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n At the time of the fire, about 650 patients had been admitted to the hospital. Those in the intensive care unit were mostly on ventilators, Dr. Sahoo said.<\/p>\n The hospital administration suspended four staff members, including a fire officer and two electricians.<\/p>\n Public safety norms are poorly enforced in India, and fatal fires are common. In 2011, 94 people died in a fire at a private hospital<\/a> in Kolkata, and six senior hospital officials were charged with culpable homicide.<\/p>\n