At least seven people have been killed in a massive fire caused by a short circuit according to the preliminary reports, at Swarna Palace Hotel which was leased to a private hospital in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada at around 5 am on Sunday. The centre was being used as a COVID-19 facility centre to keep infected patients, around 30 patients were being treated at the time of the incident.

According to the officials, most of the deaths during the incident have taken place due to the suffocation from smoke and patients were heard screaming from the windows of hotel rooms asking for help. Ramesh Hospital has taken Swarna Palace Hotel on lease for treating coronavirus patients and, in the last two weeks about 30 patients were admitted in the hotel and 10 paramedical staff were there for assisting patients at the time of the incident.

B Srinivasulu, Vijayawada city police commissioner said the fire first broke near the reception area on the ground floor and it continues to spread rapidly to the first floor. Bystanders have captured images of the huge fire at the reception area. He also said that about 30 people were rescued and within 25 minutes the fire was brought down under the control. 

Srinivasulu mentioned that the control room has received an SOS at 5:15 am and, the fire and quick response teams have rushed to the incident spot and started rescue operation. The patients were brought out by breaking the windows and using ladders as there was no other external fire exit in the building. The rescued coronavirus victims were rushed to other hospitals.