Mymensingh hospital fire sparks panic, reports of 6 deaths under verification by authorities

A fire at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital on Monday evening triggered panic among patients and their relatives, with authorities late at night investigating reports that six people, including a child, had died in a stampede while fleeing the building.

Initial reports, citing witnesses and hospital sources, said patients and relatives rushed down a narrow staircase after smoke spread through the hospital’s new eight-storey building.

Several people were reported to have fallen and been trampled in the ensuing crush.

The reports put the death toll at six and identified five of the purported victims as Hazera Begum, 50; Shahjahan, 40; Ramzan, 38; Jahanara, 50; and Kulsum, 35. An unidentified child was also reported among the dead.

But senior local officials said late Monday that they had yet to verify the reported deaths.

“So far, we have found no evidence that anyone died in a stampede at the hospital,” Mymensingh Divisional Commissioner SM Humayun Kabir Sarkar told journalists at around 10:45 pm.

“There are reports of injuries, but we are also checking whether those reports are accurate,” he said.

Sarkar said the hospital emergency department’s list did not contain records of six deaths, while information collected from the morgue did not match other reports received by the authorities.

“We will be able to confirm the actual number and the situation only after cross-checking all the information,” he said, urging media outlets not to report casualty figures before verification.

Mymensingh Range Deputy Inspector General Mohammad Jahidul Hasan gave a similar account to Prothom Alo newspaper at around 11 pm, saying police were examining different lists and trying to contact relatives of people reported to have died.

“We still do not have any concrete evidence,” Hasan said.

Asked how reports of six deaths had emerged, he said: “You heard it the way we did. We are now investigating on the ground to verify that information.”

Hospital authorities, however, confirmed that several people were injured while rushing down the stairs after seeing fire and smoke.

The Fire Service received the alarm at 5:55 pm and reached the hospital within 10 minutes, according to Purna Chandra Mutsuddi, assistant director of the Mymensingh Fire Service.

Ten firefighting units were deployed, and the blaze was brought completely under control at around 6:30 pm.

Mutsuddi said preliminary findings suggested the fire started after excessive heat from an electrical short circuit affected a board connected to the controller machine in a lift control room.

The fire itself was not intense, but a large amount of smoke spread from the control room to other floors, triggering panic inside the building, he said.

Hospital Deputy Director Zakiul Islam said none of the treatment wards was damaged.

Authorities have launched an investigation to establish the exact cause of the fire, while officials continued late Monday to verify the conflicting reports of casualties.

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