Doctors and nurses helped a number of people and in evacuating the building, say eyewitness
Around noon on Thursday, Sumit scrambled in panic to reach his grandmother, who was admitted on the fourth floor of a five-storeyed hospital in Noida's Sector 12. Her angiography was scheduled to happen, but it had to be delayed.
Sumit was worried as he had seen thick smoke billowing out from a part of the building. When he reached his grandmother, he screamed: "Fire!"
On hearing him, people rushed towards safety. They then broke glass windows in a bid to find an escape and clear the toxic smoke from the area where patients were recuperating.
"We locked the gate (of the room) from inside after seeing that the lobby was filled by smoke. We broke the glass (windows) and waited," he said.
Sumit said doctors at the Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute were reassuring and told them the fire was under control. There was no need to panic, they told him and other patients.
But panic had already set in by then.
Somesh Bharti, who had come from Moradabad to see his uncle at the hospital, said: "At around 12 noon, when we came down after meeting him, we noticed people shouting from inside the building. We saw that a fire broke out and a heavy smoke was coming out."
"I went back to see my uncle. In the meanwhile, some people and guards broke the glass panes to allow smoke to pass," he said.
Bharti, after his uncle was rescued, said he went on to help other patients trapped by the fire.
By this time, the lane where the hospital is located, had been blocked and only ambulances were allowed to move in. Patients were being transported to safer places in the ambulances, Bharti said, adding police personnel helped them get out of the building.
"I came here from Greater Noida. First people broke the glass windows. Then I saw four people helping my uncle move out of the building," Anil Bhati said.
Bhati said his 70-year-old uncle had heart-related issues and he was admitted to the hospital for 15 days.
Eyewitnesses said doctors and nurses helped a number of people and in evacuating the building.