A fire broke out in the basement of Central Hospital in the capital’s Green Road yesterday, however, no one was reported injured in the incident.
Fire fighters managed to bring the blaze under control within an hour.
Witnesses at the spot said people inside the hospital and around panicked as soon as the fire broke out. Some patients who were on the ground floor of the hospital rushed outside in fear, and some admitted patients were also taken out by panicked family members, the witnesses said.
The hospital’s Administration Officer Khalilur Rahman said: “Patients were shifted to safer places after the fire broke out. They were brought back to their respective wards after the fire was doused.”
He said at first it was assumed that the fire originated from a CNG-cylinder blast of an ambulance kept at the hospital’s basement. But fire officials confirmed that the blaze was not from a blast and might have originated from an electric short-circuit, he added.
Mamun Mahmud, additional deputy director of fire service, said the fire had originated around 1:30pm and after receiving information, seven units of fire fighters rushed to the spot and brought the flames under control around 2:35pm.