Andheri Hospital Fire: Family Members Recount Horror

Family members open up on how the hospital fire affected them.

Family members of survivors talk about their ordeal post the fire.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

In a massive fire at the government-run ESIC Kamgar hospital in Andheri (E) on 17 December, 8 people were declared dead and more than 140 people reported injured.

An official from the civic body told NDTV that the fire brigade received a call at around 4pm on Monday.

While the families of the survivors have been waiting for those affected to recover soon, The Quint spoke to a few patients at the Cooper Hospital, located in Andheri, close to the Kamgar hospital.

One survivor’s sister recounts the horror and says, “My sister, in order to escape, jumped from the third floor, and her back is badly injured now.”

Another person present there also spoke about the ordeal his father faced when the fire broke out. His father had undergone a surgery and was recovering. “Because most of the pathways were blocked, he had to take the stairs and couldn’t even walk because he was just operated on,” he says.

A bloodsample technician who was present when the fire broke out said, “People were just jumping down from the fourth or the fifth floor. I don’t think they survived, because the impact was too much.”

The cause of the fire is still not known, but speculation is rife that a short circuit triggered it.