A major fire broke out in the seven-storeyed building of Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital at Baripada, the district headquarters town of Mayurbhanj district, on Friday.

No casualties have been reported in the incident.

The fire broke out at around 1.30pm in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and pediatric and gynaecology department located on the third floor of the medical college.

The employees and the officials of the Baripada medical college swung into action and immediately evacuated patients from the third floor to other floors. As it happened during the daytime, fire officials managed to bring the fire under control and douse the flames by spraying water. However, a number of medical equipment were burnt.

Superintendent of Police (SP), Mayurbhanj B. Gangadhar told reporters: "Security spotted the fire and informed the Fire Brigade. There is no burn injury."

Assistant fire officer, Baripada, Bhabendra Nath Dey told The Telegraph: “We reached the spot in five minutes. We engaged 3 fire tenders and 25 people. Within 30 minutes, the fire was doused. But we need another four hours to control the smoke billowing out of the building. All the patients have been evacuated safely."

Dey said, “The fire broke out in the Operation Theatre (OT) of the ICU because of a short circuit. Now the fire has been completely doused.”

Nearly 130 patients, mostly pregnant women and 100 children admitted into the hospital were safely evacuated. A source said when the fire broke out, an operation was going on at the Operation Theatre (OT) on the third floor. But later the patient was evacuated and the operation was successfully done by the doctors.

“No casualty has been reported. Search operations have begun to ensure that no casualty has taken place. The fire alarm fixed at the hospital started giving a signal once the fire started. The biggest challenge is to convince the patients to go to the wards again" said an official.