Back15 trapped as Kasturba Hospital roof collapses in Bhopal
Five survivors dug out; rescuers move in heavy machinery to cut through roof of female surgical ward
Premium(Praveen Bajpai/ Hindustan Times)
Bhopal: Up to 15 people, mostly patients, were feared trapped after part of a hospital roof caved in on Friday in Bhopal, officials and eyewitnesses said.
Rescuers moved in heavy machinery to cut through the crashed roof of the female surgical ward of Kasturba Hospital, hospital spokesman Vinodanand Jha said.
“Twelve to 15 patients are feared trapped and a relief operation is on," Jha said, adding that rescuers had already dug out five survivors.
Debris showered on the ward’s inmates, trapping them after the roof tumbled at around 2.30pm, Jha said.
He was unable to say how the accident occurred in the hospital, which is run by state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.
“Right now, relief operations are our priority and then we will try to find out how the accident happened," he said.
A staffer for the ambulance service said the roof collapsed without any warning and fell “in a shower of debris of bricks and mortar".
“It happened very suddenly," the worker, who did not give his name, said by phone.
Bhopal witnessed one of the world’s worst industrial disasters in 1984 when tonnes of lethal toxic gas leaked from an Union Carbide pesticides plant, killing tens of thousands of city dwellers.
US-based Dow is the parent company of Union Carbide.
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