By IANS,
Kolkata : At least 73 people, most of them patients, died in a fire that broke out in the basement of the AMRI hospital here, hospital officials said Friday.
Hospital authorities said 70 patients and three staffers had been killed.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had confirmed 61 deaths in the tragedy.
She said 41 of the bodies had been taken to the state-run SSKM Hospital in South Kolkata.
“Twenty other bodies are still there in an upper floor of the AMRI hospital,” she said.
Of the bodies taken to SSKM, autopsies have been completed on 36. “Twelve have been identified,” she said.
The chief minister said the colour photos of the faces of the unidentified victims will be displayed outside the SSKM morgue.
“After identification, we will send the bodies in hearses to their homes.”
On the basis of a first information report (FIR) lodged by the fire brigade, police had started a criminal case against the hospital management. “They will be arrested. We will take strict action against the hospital,” she said.
However, sources said that the top management of the hospital has already gone underground.
Banerjee also promised Rs.3 lakh if family members of the victims, who are not well-off, made an appeal. “If anybody appeals for a government job. We will also try to help them out.”