Doctor, His 2 Children Die In Andhra Pradesh Hospital Fire

A doctor and his two children were killed after a fire broke out in a hospital in Andhra Pradesh's Renigunta in Tirupati district on Sunday morning. The children, a girl and a boy, were 9 and 14-years-old respectively.

Based on an initial investigation, firefighters said that the fire is suspected to have broken out due to a short circuit. Dr Ravishankar Reddy's family, who lived in the Karthikeya Hospital building, were asleep when the fire started.

Dr Reddy was on the second floor and came down via the staircase inside the house which is when officials suspect that he may have fallen after getting overwhelmed by the smoke, and was burnt completely.

The children were rescued after breaking doors and were brought down via ladder by fire-fighting rescue personnel. They were shifted to hospital but could not be revived as they had reportedly inhaled too much of the poisonous carbon monoxide gas.

"There was a lot of furniture and household appliances, and not enough doors and windows for the smoke to escape, so it became a gas chamber," said a fire official.

Videos show flames engulf the ground floor of the hospital building early this morning. Dr Ravi Shankar, who was killed in the fire, lived in the upper storey of hospital with his family.

The three-storey building was built about 5 years ago and had the hospital and clinic on the ground floor with the duplex house on the top floors.

The huge amount of furniture, electronic devices and cardboard boxes present inside Karthikeya Hospital are believed to have caused the fire to spread.

Dr Ravi Shankar's wife, Dr Anantalakshmi, and mother Ramasubamma survived the fire.