A fire broke out early Monday at the government-run SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, killing at least 10 critically ill patients, officials said.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said the blaze began in the trauma ICU ward and was caused by a short circuit. “A short circuit caused the fire in the trauma ICU ward where patients were being treated,” he said. Majhi added that 23 patients had been on the floor when the fire started.
There were media reports of additional injuries, but authorities had not confirmed those accounts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident as “deeply painful” and said families of the victims would receive compensation of about $2,000.
Electrical short circuits, often resulting from poorly maintained wiring, are a leading cause of building fires in India. Insufficient firefighting equipment and emergency preparedness at many facilities can make such fires especially deadly.
Similar deadly hospital fires occurred in 2024, including a blaze at a private hospital in Tamil Nadu that killed six people and injured dozens, and another incident in Uttar Pradesh in which 10 newborn babies died.
Edited by: Alex Berry