It is a tragedy within the drama which occurs in an India attacked from all sides by the Covid-19.
Thirteen people sick with the coronavirus died this Friday morning in a fire in a hospital in the suburbs of Bombay, said Morrison Khavari, a fire official.
The fire, now extinguished, broke out at around 3 am - local time - this Friday, and its causes are being investigated, the official said.
“Seventeen patients were in the intensive care unit of Vijay Vallabh hospital when a fire broke out, 13 died and four others were transferred to other establishments,” he adds.
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The tragedy comes as India faces an exponential upsurge in cases, with nearly 4 million new infections since early April.
These contaminations are notably attributed to a "double mutation" of the virus and to uncontrolled mass events, such as the Hindu religious festival Khumb Mela.
Three crisis meetings scheduled for Friday to curb the situation
India also faces a shortage of oxygen, medicine and hospital beds.
On Wednesday, 22 other Covid-19 patients died at a hospital in Nasik, in the same state of Maharashtra.
The cause was a cut-off in the supply of oxygen to respirators for half an hour.
The tragedy at a hospital in Nashik because of oxygen tank leakage is heart-wrenching.
Anguished by the loss of lives due to it.
Condolences to the bereaved families in this sad hour.
- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 21, 2021
Many fires have devastated hospital services in recent months, or even the largest vaccine production plant in the world.
Four patients also died in early April in a fire at a private clinic in Maharashtra, while in March a fire in a hospital left eleven people dead in Bombay.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to participate in at least three crisis meetings on Friday devoted in particular to the supply of oxygen and the availability of essential drugs.
Tomorrow, will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing COVID-19 situation.
Due to that, I would not be going to West Bengal.
- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 22, 2021
The Indian capital, New Delhi, continues to be among the hardest hit. Hundreds of thousands of new infections and a multitude of new hospitalizations have occurred there in the past few days.
