Fire at Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital in Vellore

No casualties reported; UPS booster in a separate room blasted resulting in the fire, according to officials

A fire broke out on the second floor of Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital on the Officer’s Line, opposite Voorhees College, in Vasanthapuram near Balaji Nagar in the Old Town in Vellore on Friday.

Police said that no casualties have been reported in the accident. The firefighters battled for more than an hour to put out the blaze, which the police said might have been caused by an electric short circuit. “The UPS booster in a separate room in the hospital blasted resulting in the fire of a portion of the building,” said J. Thanigaivel, Station Fire Officer (SFO), Vellore.

Around 9.30 a.m. on Friday, a few staff at the hospital saw smoke emanating from the booster room on the second floor of the building, located near the Vellore City Corporation office, and alerted the local fire office, which rushed fire tenders to the spot.

With the fire restricted to the second floor of the three-storey building, one fire tender was deployed from the Vellore Old Town area. The fire was prevented from spreading to the neighbouring buildings. A police probe is under way to ascertain the cause, the police said.

Police said that at the time of the accident, around 10 inpatients were in the hospital. They were evacuated safely along with outpatients. The police said the building developed slight cracks. Residents of the area complained of breathlessness because of the thick smoke that poured out of the building. A case has been registered by the Vellore South police.