An elderly couple, admitted for Covid-19 treatment at the Sunrise Hospital in Mumbai where a massive fire broke out on Friday, had a horrid time escaping from the building with the woman having to “drag the husband out through a dark corridor.”

Madhuri Godhwani, 67, who survived the fire mishap with her 78-year-old husband Chetan Godhwani, told The Indian Express that after the ordeal of escaping the building she and her husband had to wait for hours to get a hospital bed. “I can never forget the horror of last night. I had to drag my husband like some dead animal through a dark corridor.”

When the smoke entered their private room at around 11pm on the fateful night, Chetan was on oxygen support and not strong enough to move on his own. A ward boy asked the couple to exit the room and left. Realising that the smoke was filling the room fast and no one would come to their help, Madhuri decided to drag her husband out of the hospital premises.

“I found a young woman who was helping two elderly people escape, so I dragged my husband and followed them. The lift was working on backup power, I think. We took the lift till the first floor and then came down the stairway,” she was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Ten coronavirus patients died after a fire broke out at the Mumbai. “All the 10 people who died in the blaze were coronavirus patients,” DCP Prashant Kadam said.

When the death toll was two, the hospital had come out with a statement saying both were coronavirus patients who were already dead from the disease when the fire broke out. It had added that there was no death due to the fire. It has not commented as yet about the remaining eight deaths. There is no word yet from civic and hospital officials on how many people were evacuated and how many of them were coronavirus patients.

The fire broke out at the Sunrise Hospital in the Dreams Mall building in Bhandup area around midnight, the official said. The hospital is situated on the top floor of the four-storeyed mall building.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who visited the spot in the afternoon said strict action will be taken against those found responsible for the fire. He apologised to the families of the victims and announced Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each deceased.

The blaze comes amid an upsurge in coronavirus cases in Mumbai. On Thursday, the city logged 5,504 new infections, the highest daily count since the pandemic began.

The cause of the fire has not been ascertained yet, BMC control room sources said. Thirty fire engines, 20 water tankers and ambulances were rushed to the spot. Fire fighting operation is underway, the official said.

Patients who were evacuated were shifted to another hospital, the official said. Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar who visited the site expressed surprise that a hospital was operating inside the mall.