A fire broke out in the intensive care unit of Prasad Hospital in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, on Thursday, killing several patients.

The incident underscores the critical risks associated with fire safety and electrical maintenance in healthcare facilities where patients are immobile.

Emergency responders launched a rescue operation after the blaze erupted on the fifth floor of the hospital's ICU [4]. Reports on the total number of fatalities vary across sources. Some reports indicate at least five people died [1], while other accounts place the death toll at four [2] or three [3].

Local authorities are investigating the cause of the fire. Preliminary assessments suggest the blaze was triggered by a short circuit [5] within the ICU ward. Because the fire occurred in a high-dependency unit, many patients were unable to evacuate themselves, necessitating an urgent response from firefighting teams.

Prasad Hospital is located in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. The rescue operation focused on extracting patients from the fifth floor to prevent further loss of life. Officials have not yet released a final verified count of the injured or the deceased.

“A blaze suspected to be caused by a short circuit broke out at Prasad Hospital”

This tragedy highlights a recurring vulnerability in Indian healthcare infrastructure, where outdated electrical wiring and lack of specialized fire evacuation plans for ICU patients often lead to high casualty rates during emergencies. The discrepancy in early death tolls reflects the chaos typical of the immediate aftermath of such disasters in densely populated urban areas.