Five coronavirus patients died in a hospital blaze early today due to a short circuit igniting a ventilator machine, said reports in Russia.
An inferno swept through an intensive care Covid-19 ward at a hospital in St Petersburg.
A total of 150 patients were evacuated from St. George City Hospital, said the emergency services.
All five people, who died, were connected to ventilators at the time, it is understood.
An inferno swept through an intensive care Covid-19 ward at a hospital in St Petersburg. Pictured, damage to the ward’s windows
“An electric equipment malfunction, short-circuit failure, is seen as the preliminary reason,” said an emergency services spokesman.
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A total of 150 patients were evacuated from St. George City Hospital, said the emergency services.
Eleven in the same sixth floor ward were rescued and taken to lower floor of the hospital.
Smoke was seen pouring from the window at the hospital which had been re-categorised to cope with coronavirus patients during the pandemic.
Fire rescue crews gathered in the hospital’s car park and a nearby road to tackle the blaze
The emergency services later said the fire had been localised.
Smoke was seen pouring from the window at the hospital which had been recategorised to cope with coronavirus patients during the pandemic.
It is the second similar fire in three days in Russia.
Workers of the St Petersburg Fire Service undergo disinfection after a fire at St George’s Municipal Hospital.
A Russian Emergency Situation worker disinfects two men near the scene of the deadly fire.
On Saturday a 95-year-old woman Evdokia Butryakova died in a Moscow hospital when an oxygen balloon supplying a ventilator exploded causing a fire major which led to 295 patients being evacuated.
The charred body of the pensioner was found after the blaze was extinguished at Clinical Hospital 50.
The authorities are examining the causes of both fires.