Fire at COVID ward of Maharashtra's Virar hospital claims 13 lives

The fire broke out in the intensive care unit on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Virar in the early hours of Friday, in which five women and eight men died.

A fire broke out in the intensive care unit on the second floor of the four-storeyed Vijay Vallabh Hospital at Virar in the early hours of Friday, in which five women and eight men died. (Photo | PTI) 

There were 90 patients in the hospital, 18 of them in the ICU, when the fire broke out after a blast in the AC unit. (Photo | PTI)

The hospital employee said the facility had been facing some problem with its AC system in the COVID-19 ward since Thursday afternoon. (Photo | PTI)

The relatives of the COVID-19 patients who died in the incident, complained about the hospital's alleged mismanagement to Shiv Sena leader and state minister Eknath Shinde, when he went to take stock of the situation. (Photo | PTI)

Maharashtra state Minister Eknath Shinde at the site of the fire at a Covid-19 hospital, where at least 13 patients died, in Virar. (Photo | PTI)

Health workers evacuate employees of Vijay Vallabh COVID care hospital after a fire in Virar West. (Photo | PTI)

Police personnel stand outside the Vijay Vallabh COVID care hospital after a fire in Virar West. (Photo | PTI)

Bodies of COVID-19 patients, who died in a fire at the Vijay Vallabh COVID care hospital, being cremated in Virar West, on the outskirts of Mumbai. (Photo | PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences on the loss of lives in the fire incident and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for kin of the deceased in the incident. (Photo | ANI)

Police and the civic staff helped the families in shifting some patients, who required oxygen and ventilators, to another hospital. (Photo | ANI)