Fire at prominent Lucknow hospital

, Oct 2: Patients and staff at the Vivekananda Hospital in Niralanagar in this

capital had a close shave with disaster on Wednesday evening as a major

broke out in the intensive care unit (ICU), police said.

The staff quickly managed to evacuate the five critically ill patients in the ICU, averting a disaster.

Hasanganj police inspector Satish Gautam said that fire tenders battled for more than two hours to douse the fire.

"The ICU is located on the first floor of the hospital building, and dense smoke had engulfed the entire ICU when firemen reached the spot," he said.

Initial findings indicated that a short circuit in the UPS section of the hospital may have triggered the fire.

IANS