On Tuesday, fire erupted in a  coronavirus hospital in Russia’s second city of Saint Petersburg killing five people while some victims were attached to ventilators, said the officials. After the blaze broke out on the  sixth floor of  the Saint George Hospital, 150 people were evacuated, said the emergency ministry. 

The hospital had been repurposed to treat COVID-19 patients and some of the dead patients had been connected to ventilators when the fire began. Firefighters  started working outside while windows near the top  floor of the  hospital were blackened.

“Everyone is shocked by what happened,” said Svetlana Stepanova, a pensioner receiving treatment at the hospital.

“A fire in the hospital is a nightmare,” she told AFP.

Referring to preliminary information, Saint Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said  a  shortcut circuit may  be the cause of  the fire. His office said  in a  statement that a ventilator has caught fire.  

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it has started investigating the  incident. On Monday, a fire  broke out in a retirement home killing nine people. Apart from that another Moscow COVID-19 hospital caught fire, killing one and hundreds were  evacuated. Russia has  recorded 10,899 new coronavirus cases and the number increasing. The pandemic  has claimed 2116  lives till now.