Three persons, including a junior doctor, suffered burns when oxygen leaking from a cylinder caught fire in the district designated COVID-19 hospital in Belagavi on Sunday.
A nurse and a ward boy were the others who suffered burns in the fire accident. They were admitted to the burns ward in the hospital.
Though earlier reports described it as a blast, the police said that it was a fire accident.
“Oxygen began leaking from the cylinder when the staff were changing the cylinder’s pipes to provide supply to a patient’s ventilator. However, the inflammable gas caught fire immediately,” a police officer said.
Police officers and Fire and Emergency Services personnel arrived at the spot within minutes and put out the fire.
Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath has ordered an inquiry into the incident.