Fire breaks out at ATM inside Institute of Neurosciences

Kolkata: A fire broke out at a ATM counter of a private bank inside the campus of Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata (INK) situated at Mallick Bazar. Three fire tenders controlled the fire within half an hour. No causality reported.

Sources informed that around 2:50 am on Tuesday some relatives of the patients admitted to INK saw smoke coming from the back portion of the ATM situated on the ground floor of the hospital. The hospital authority was immediately informed. Meanwhile, the fire alarm

also raised.

The authority tried to control the fire using the fire extinguishers but failed as the intensity of the fire was high. The fire brigade was informed accordingly. Within a few minutes three fire tenders were pressed into action. But till then the fire started spreading. Smoke spread on the first floor where several patients were admitted. Though no harm was done as the authority acted promptly, the relatives of the patients got panic stricken. Many of them asked the hospital authority to shift their near ones to a safe location.

Around 3:20 am the fire was finally controlled. The cooling process went on for approximately an hour. Later, fire brigade personnel inspected the damaged ATM. It is suspected that the fire occurred inside the room at the ATM counter.

A back-up system and a server were there inside the room. Due to the fire, the ATM was burnt to ashes. The fire brigade officials suspect that the fire might have occurred due to short circuit on the back-up system or server, but it is yet to be confirmed.