A major accident was averted at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital after the staff found smoke emanating from the surgical intensive care ward in the early hours of Monday.
On seeing the smoke, the hospital staff immediately evacuated the patients from the ward.
One patient died but doctors claimed the patient, who had recently undergone a surgery, died of other reasons.
A senior police official of the Chennai City Police said one patient named Pandurangan of Vizhupuram who was in the critical care died of renal failure.
He said the cause for the smoke was a leak of alkaline gas.
