HYDERABAD: Panic gripped Ankura Hospital in Gudimalkapur after fire broke out on the nine storied building’s elevation Saturday evening.
The fire started at 5.10 pm as the hospital’s LED display board at the Kings Kohinoor Classic Tower on the terrace of the building and spread to the elevation.
The hospital is housed till the fifth floor of the nine-storey building. They were alerted by the neighbouring building owners.
Initially the staff tried to use the emergency fire water tankers but found that they were empty. They poured buckets of water on the elevation and the nursing staff through the ramp using their mobile flash lights shifted over 17 patients to their Banjara Hills branch safely.
“Around 5.20 pm, I saw smoke and people from nearby buildings entering the hospital main gate and shouting while informing the hospital management ‘aag lagi hai hospital mein’. I panicked and ran to the fourth floor to meet my wife who is admitted in the hospital. There was smoke and the lift was not working,” Mohammed Ashfaq, a patient attendant, said.
The hospital management arranged for additional ambulances and shifted patients from the fifth and fourth floor to another branch, Ashfaq said. By then the fire brigades arrived and extinguished the fire, he said.
The sixth and seventh floor of the building was occupied by offices while eight and nine floors were vacant.
According to sources in the fire department, it was caused by short-circuit due to the phase to phase contact on the display board and then spread to the elevation.
“Our five fire tenders controlled the fire within 25 minutes. The wiring of the hospital, generators and air conditioners on the top floor terrace were partially damaged,” said T. Purushotam, DFO, fire department.
Gudimalkapur police rushed to the scene and assisted the fire officers and hospital staff in shifting the patients. Police registered a case of fire accident. The police and the fire officials confirmed that there was no loss of life or hospital property.
Meanwhile there were heavy traffic jams at Gudimalkapur, Rajendranagar, Mehdipatnam, Tolichowki, Rethibowli, Mehdipatnam and the surrounding roads.
