Jhansi Fire Tragedy: Probe Team Finds Short Circuit Due To Overload As Prime Cause

A special investigation team from Lucknow reached Jhansi on Monday under the chairmanship of Kinjal Singh, director general of medical education and training, for inspection.

Jhansi:The high-level team probing the tragic fire incident on November 15 in the NICU of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi that snuffed lives out of a dozen newborns so far concluded after a five-hour investigation that shortcircuits due to overload led to the fire.

The team said the extension chord caught fire first and it spread to the nearby ventilator leading to the tragedy. An earlier investigation by the divisional commissioner and DIG also pointed at short-circuit.

On the instructions of the government, a special investigation team from Lucknow reached Jhansi on Monday under the chairmanship of Kinjal Singh, director general of medical education and training. The team inspected the NICU ward and recorded statements of doctors and staff.

In the initial investigation, a short circuit due to high electricity load was considered to be the cause of the incident. The team has summoned the data on the electricity load on the day of the incident. In the initial investigation, it was revealed that the load was much higher than the capacity on that day. The next inspection will be of the wiring as there could be some issues with its quality.

Singh said in the initial investigation the cause of the incident seemed to be a short circuit. The power load was high on the day of the incident, due to which there is a possibility of a short circuit. Now the wiring etc. will also be investigated, after which a complete report will be given to the government.