India Covid hospital fire kills 11

Fire tore through a hospital in western India yesterday killing at least 11 coronavirus patients, officials said.

The blaze was the latest to hit pandemic wards across India.

There were about two dozen patients at the intensive care unit in the hospital in Ahmadnagar district, Maharashtra state, when the fire broke out, officials said. Most of the dead were aged over 60.

The hospital ward, which was left a charred wreck, had been newly built for coronavirus patients.

Maharashtra state chief minister Udhav Thackeray ordered a formal investigation into the blaze and safety conditions at the hospital 250 kilometres from the regional capital Mumbai.