Russia: Five coronavirus patients die after fire broke out in hospital

In a shocking incident, at least 5 patients of the novel coronavirus were killed due to massive fire that broke out at St. George Hospital in St. Petersburg in Russia due to short-circuiting from the ventilators, as per state media reports. Russian Emergency Situation workers were rushed to the Intensive Care Units for rescue operation as they managed to douse the fire within half an hour. However, the patients intubated in the ward suffered casualties, the Russian emergency officials reportedly said.

Police in St. Petersburg, the second-largest city in Russia, has launched a criminal investigation into the fire, although, the suspected cause remains faulty ventilator, a news agency reported, citing anonymous sources. The fire at St. George Hospital was contained by the authorities, at least 150 people have been evacuated, the press service of The Ministry of Emergency Situations told the state media outlets. As per reports, in mid-March, St. George Hospital had been re-equipped to admit and treat the critical patients diagnosed with Covid-19 disease.  

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Furthermore, citing a spokesman for the emergency services on condition of anonymity, a local news agency reported that the cause of the incident could be a “sudden malfunction” of electrical equipment. It could be due to an “overload” with ventilators being “pushed to their limit” by the hospital amid the surge in the ICU patients with limited medical equipment, a local daily reported quoting a source.  

Home care fire due to 'short-circuit'

Earlier, as of May 11, at least nine were reported dead in a similar incident when the fire at a care home for the elderly on the outskirts of Moscow broke out, according to reports. The authorities in Krasnogorsk said that the fire erupted late Sunday, killing 9 while the other 9 were hospitalized. The cause of the fire was identified as a “short circuit” by the police. Detaining the owner on charges of breaching fire safety rules, the police said the home care lacked fire alarms and other mandatory equipment, while it was registered as a private house. As of May 11, Russia recorded over 232,243 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 2,116 fatalities. As many as 10,899 were infected in the past 24 hours.  

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