New Delhi, May 1 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday expressed condolences over the loss of lives due to fire at a hospital in Bharuch in which at least sixteen Covid-19 patients and two nurses were killed.

In a tweet, the Prime Minister said: "Pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch. Condolences to the bereaved families."

It was a Welfare Hospital in Bharuch district where the fire broke out at around 1 a.m. on Saturday at its ICU ward. Fire department officials believed that a short circuit might have led to the blaze when the patients were sleeping. After noticing the fire, the hospital staff tried to rescue the patients who were on ventilators.

Locals broke the glass windows and rescued the other patients. Sources said there were around 27 patients in the ICU ward at the time of the fire. They were shifted to nearby private hospitals.

Fire tenders, too, reached immediately and controlled the blaze within half-an-hour.

Chief minister Vijay Rupani appointed two senior bureaucrats - Additional Chief Secretary (labour and employment) Vipul Mittra and Commissioner (municipalities) Rajkumar Beniwal - to rush to Bharuch for an inquiry. Rupani said a judicial probe would also be initiated.

An ex-gratia aid of Rs 4 lakh would be given to each of the next of kin of the victims from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, Rupani said, while expressing grief over the incident.