Bhopal:
One person has been killed and 25 others injured after a section of a wing of a government hospital in Bhopal collapsed on Friday. Two of those rescued have sustained serious injuries.
The incident occurred at around 5:30 pm. The portion of the wing of the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital that collapsed also housed the female surgical ward. It is a decades-old building.
The hospital was evacuated and patients and those injured in the collapse were shifted to other hospitals nearby.
A staffer for the ambulance service said the roof collapsed without any warning and fell "in a shower of debris of bricks and mortar". "It happened very suddenly," the worker, who did not give his name, told AFP by phone.
Locals helped the Army in rescue operations as people were pulled out from the debris of the two-storey building.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced a compensation of Rs 50, 000 for those injured in the incident and Rs two lakh for the kin of those who died.
The hospital, run by the state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), is situated in the Fatehgarh area of Bhopal.